So to summarise A22's revised plans for a European Super League:


1) Three divisions Star (16 teams), Gold (16 teams), Blue (32 teams)

2) All divisions divided into groups of eight, teams play home and away.

3) Each division will have an end of season knockout round with 8 clubs competing for the championship.

4) There will be promotion and relegation between the three leagues. Promotion into the Blue Division is based on performance in the domestic leagues.

5) Following on from the above - there are no permanent members and appointment to the league is based on sporting merit.

6) Participating clubs still remain in their domestic leagues.

7) All matches to be broadcast free of charge on the ESL's Unity streaming platform.


I think there should be enough there to address the concerns of people who protested against the original Super League proposal on the grounds that the domestic football leagues would be diminished or that permanent members made it anti competitive.
Matches being broadcast for free should win a few over too and takes away the argument that the Super League somehow isn't "for the people".

I think A22 have come up with a really smart proposal, both in terms of the structure of the league but also in terms of changing certain principles of the league to negate the points made by those who were against it.

Of course, not as many teams are represented in the ESL as under current UEFA club competitions, but then nothing stops UEFA continuing to run the Europa & Europa Conference Leagues alongside the ESL.

I'm certainly more engaged by this revised ESL proposal than the forthcoming change of format to the Champions League.

RM

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On 2023-12-23 16:37, Real_Mardin wrote:

So to summarise A22's revised plans for a European Super League:

1) Three divisions Star (16 teams), Gold (16 teams), Blue (32 teams)

2) All divisions divided into groups of eight, teams play home and away.

14 matches there

3) Each division will have an end of season knockout round with 8 clubs competing for the championship.

two-legged ? That is another 5 matches for the most successful ones.

4) There will be promotion and relegation between the three leagues. Promotion into the Blue Division is based on performance in the domestic leagues.

5) Following on from the above - there are no permanent members and appointment to the league is based on sporting merit.
6) Participating clubs still remain in their domestic leagues.

That would require the approval of the domestic leagues, presumably.
They were not keen on this with the last proposal.

It also means the ESL would play mid-week games. How to squeeze them in
amid domestic cups etc ? That would require concessions from domestic
leagues (eg. reduce the leagues to 16 teams perhaps ?) or FAs (change
format and entry point for domestic cups.)

7) All matches to be broadcast free of charge on the ESL's Unity
streaming platform.

So where will they make their money ? Advertising ?

I think there should be enough there to address the concerns of people
who protested against the original Super League proposal on the grounds
that the domestic football leagues would be diminished or that permanent members made it anti competitive. Matches being broadcast for free
should win a few over too and takes away the argument that the Super
League somehow isn't "for the people".

I think A22 have come up with a really smart proposal, both in terms of
the structure of the league but also in terms of changing certain
principles of the league to negate the points made by those who were
against it.

Of course, not as many teams are represented in the ESL as under current
UEFA club competitions, but then nothing stops UEFA continuing to run
the Europa & Europa Conference Leagues alongside the ESL.

I'm certainly more engaged by this revised ESL proposal than the
forthcoming change of format to the Champions League.

RM

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2023-12-23 16:37, Real_Mardin wrote:

So to summarise A22's revised plans for a European Super League:

1) Three divisions Star (16 teams), Gold (16 teams), Blue (32 teams)

2) All divisions divided into groups of eight, teams play home and away.

14 matches there

3) Each division will have an end of season knockout round with 8 clubs competing for the championship.

two-legged ? That is another 5 matches for the most successful ones.

The proposal says the ESL will use home and away fixtures throughout the competition, so I guess so.

4) There will be promotion and relegation between the three leagues. Promotion into the Blue Division is based on performance in the domestic leagues.

5) Following on from the above - there are no permanent members and appointment to the league is based on sporting merit.
6) Participating clubs still remain in their domestic leagues.

That would require the approval of the domestic leagues, presumably.
They were not keen on this with the last proposal.

I thought the issue with the first proposal was that the clubs were wanting to break away from their domestic leagues? This rectifies that, from a purely fixtures perspective the clubs would be absent from domestic duty for broadly the same amount of
time as they are under UEFA competitions.

The only possible reluctance I can see from domestic leagues might be more political, eg fears of losing favour and influence with UEFA which could somehow negatively impact their national teams in some way.

7) All matches to be broadcast free of charge on the ESL's Unity
streaming platform.

So where will they make their money ? Advertising ?

Exactly that. The free of charge broadcast will be funded by advertising. There are supposed to be premium options open to people who want to pay more to reduce the advertising or have interactive options such as selecting different camera angles, live
match data etc.

Given that premium sports channels who I currently pay to watch still maximise their profits by having adverts during the matches I for one have no issue with the ESL free to air broadcast having adverts.

RM

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Real_Mardin wrote:

I thought the issue with the first proposal was that the clubs were
wanting to break away from their domestic leagues?

Nope. That was the spin put on it by the media. The original ESL
proposal was a replacement for the UEFA competitions and ESL fixtures
would have been played midweek.

The only possible reluctance I can see from domestic leagues might
be more political, eg fears of losing favour and influence with
UEFA which could somehow negatively impact their national teams in
some way.

Very few, if any, of the big domestic leagues are going to go against UEFA/FIFA. Some big clubs might want to give them a bloody nose, but
that's just to leverage a situation that will give them a bigger
slice of the pie.

The free of charge broadcast will be funded by advertsing.
There are supposed to be premium options open to people
who want to pay more to reduce the advertising or have
interactive options such as selecting different camera angles, live
match data etc.

Anybody thinking they will be watching a "Super League" of all the
big European teams free of charge is delusional. Adverts will be a
part of it but revenue from the TV broadcasters is so big these days
I'd dare to think how many on-screen adverts we'd have to put up with
if the broadcasters can't make money from subscriptions. (Currently
in the UK there is no on-screen adverts during matches, as Sky Sports/TNT/Amazon are pay for football services.) Adverts only would
probably mean 90 minutes of adverts.

Given that premium sports channels who I currently pay to watch
still maximise their profits by having adverts during the matches I
for one have no issue with the ESL free to air broadcast having
adverts.

Don't hold your breath! The new proposal might put some pressure on
UEFA/FIFA to 'fix' things for certain clubs, but only two big
European teams have publicly expressed an interest in it. The idea
won't be going away I'm sure and there is some merit in giving UEFA a
kick. But without the likes of Bayern Munich, PSG and the English
clubs the two Spanish clubs aren't going to be having much
competition in their two team "Super League".

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In article <99ae85c600d4b63f48d84e226a1a4ae7@news.novabbs.com>,
Real_Mardin <realmardinrss@proton.me> wrote:

On 2023-12-23 16:37, Real_Mardin wrote:

So to summarise A22's revised plans for a European Super League:


1) Three divisions Star (16 teams), Gold (16 teams), Blue (32 teams)

2) All divisions divided into groups of eight, teams play home and away.

14 matches there

3) Each division will have an end of season knockout round with 8 clubs
competing for the championship.

two-legged ? That is another 5 matches for the most successful ones.

The proposal says the ESL will use home and away fixtures throughout the >competition, so I guess so.

4) There will be promotion and relegation between the three leagues.
Promotion into the Blue Division is based on performance in the domestic
leagues.

5) Following on from the above - there are no permanent members and
appointment to the league is based on sporting merit.
6) Participating clubs still remain in their domestic leagues.

That would require the approval of the domestic leagues, presumably.
They were not keen on this with the last proposal.

I thought the issue with the first proposal was that the clubs were
wanting to break away from their domestic leagues? This rectifies that,
from a purely fixtures perspective the clubs would be absent from
domestic duty for broadly the same amount of time as they are under UEFA >competitions.

The only possible reluctance I can see from domestic leagues might be
more political, eg fears of losing favour and influence with UEFA which >could somehow negatively impact their national teams in some way.

7) All matches to be broadcast free of charge on the ESL's Unity
streaming platform.

So where will they make their money ? Advertising ?

Exactly that. The free of charge broadcast will be funded by
advertising. There are supposed to be premium options open to people who
want to pay more to reduce the advertising or have interactive options
such as selecting different camera angles, live match data etc.

Given that premium sports channels who I currently pay to watch still >maximise their profits by having adverts during the matches I for one
have no issue with the ESL free to air broadcast having adverts.

RM

Get UEFA to the table someone!
--
Member - Liberal International This is doctor@nk.ca Ici doctor@nk.ca
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The Doctor wrote:

Get UEFA to the table someone!

Don't worry, I'm sure they are scurrying around behind the scenes
seeing what 'they can do' to help the poor mis fortunate clubs who
feel they are not getting the riches and attention they deserve...

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