There's a long history of soccer in Saudi.
They have good players. Their national team have qualified for several recent World Cups and are very competitive.
I agree with those saying that just buying expensive players doesn't actually make teams/leagues good. Just look at the PL, so much spent on individuals yet there are only about 3 or 4 teams with any sort of cohesion or team spirit.
I forgot about all those great Saudi players from their long history in the game.
Anyone know what the experience for the average working Saudi football fan out there, local families etc?
Has it changed ticket prices since the big names started going, the crowds look pretty good at these games now. Going to be a lot of young fans out there for the years to come now and maybe better footballers if they start pumping money into actual football not just entertainment/showbiz.
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 2 minutes ago
So you’re saying the average player in Serie A is the same as the average player in Saudi Arabia, lol.
The league have bought a handful of big names with little thought about team development and the players moving there are doing so for an easy time with little competition or intensity. To compare it to any half decent league in Europe is laughable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Laughable I agree but that is not their aim, is it? They are buying instant credibility. You can argue how much but hey we are all talking about it, right?
Go in large and catch the governing bodies and ww stakeholders napping, debating what to do about this new upstart and try to build something that demands attention in the way of accommodating them and enabling the sportswashing. Not that FIFA, UEFA or anyone else is gonna do anything with $ being dangled before them.
Different transfer windows is a real issue.
I see EPL whining about inflated transfer market rates being an excuse to ditch FFP as well. That could cause cracks across Europe and ESL to get raised again rather than the CL changes that are incremental and not quantum steps like the Saudi league.
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 5 minutes ago
There's a long history of soccer in Saudi.
They have good players. Their national team have qualified for several recent World Cups and are very competitive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Last team to beat the world champs, right?
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 2 minutes ago
How would multiple clubs owned by the same entity make it more competitive? There’s no incentive to be the best when you ultimately always win, you have no real preference for a team and your only real concern is making the league more well known with big names. As yet they’re not bringing in players or managers/coaches who genuinely want to be part of one of the worlds best sides, they’re going for money and an easy time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Because if there’s no incentive to win for an individual club then clearly it’s about making the league itself the best spectacle it can be and that’s by making it competitive between the teams within it.
If you’re talking about creating an individual team that’s the best it can be on the world stage then I agree.
I saw clips of the final of the Arab Champions Cup from last night, and it was serious business.
The crowd was huge and fully invested, and the players were giving everything.
Ronaldo looked as happy to win last night as he did to win any of his titles in England or Spain.
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 5 minutes ago
There's a long history of soccer in Saudi.
They have good players. Their national team have qualified for several recent World Cups and are very competitive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Last team to beat the world champs, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 1 minute ago
I saw clips of the final of the Arab Champions Cup from last night, and it was serious business.
The crowd was huge and fully invested, and the players were giving everything.
Ronaldo looked as happy to win last night as he did to win any of his titles in England or Spain.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It will never compare to people sitting and singing Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea once a match. That's proper football. No other leagues can match that sort of atmosphere
Anyone paying their tenner a month to watch it on DAZN?
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 40 seconds ago
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Me either. Couldn’t pay me to watch a Saudi game.
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 1 minute ago
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn’t say it did, but if the same entity owns all the clubs then clearly there’s more likelihood they’ll make the teams more evenly matched and competitive than a league could when there’s a vast difference in revenue between the top and the bottom.
Like I said, I agreed with your earlier sentiment about it being pretty much an exhibition league.
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You could be right. Parallels on the type of players going to Saudi and LiV also.
I've always felt he was a wee fcking vanker of a man, talented? Aye but a horrific wee fcker of a player so it's difficult for me to day anything positive about him overall?
When he plays I can enjoy his skills but he makes me angry even looking at him
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
That and the ownership is completely different too, it’s impossible for them to do to football what they did to golf.
comment by The Process (U20671)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 40 seconds ago
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Me either. Couldn’t pay me to watch a Saudi game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
But the masses won't feel that way.
If Neymar and Ronaldo go head-to-head in a big Pro League game or Cup game, people will watch.
Just look at the buzz around the Leagues Cup right now, with Inter Miami making a great run, and Messi scoring goal after goal.
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 second ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that but again I'm not too sure the Saudis give two facks and see a bigger picture of buying credibility no matter the cost? I mean what else did they get out of LIV? Not aware of any Saudi golfers?
Any serious footballer not motivated by money wouldn't go to the Saudi league because it will never have even an ounce of the prestige that the European club competitions and major leagues have and no amount of money will change this.
As for Neymar, hugely unlikeable but immensely talented footballer who didn't have a bad career by any means but I'm sure he regrets spending what should've been the best years of it at PSG.
comment by The Red Side™ (U11275)
posted 38 seconds ago
Any serious footballer not motivated by money wouldn't go to the Saudi league because it will never have even an ounce of the prestige that the European club competitions and major leagues have and no amount of money will change this.
As for Neymar, hugely unlikeable but immensely talented footballer who didn't have a bad career by any means but I'm sure he regrets spending what should've been the best years of it at PSG.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Why have the best footballers headed to the EPL - for the 'prestige'?
Bollix £££££££££££
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 second ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that but again I'm not too sure the Saudis give two facks and see a bigger picture of buying credibility no matter the cost? I mean what else did they get out of LIV? Not aware of any Saudi golfers?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They got the pga tour. There isn’t an equivalent for them to get in football.
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 20 seconds ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 second ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that but again I'm not too sure the Saudis give two facks and see a bigger picture of buying credibility no matter the cost? I mean what else did they get out of LIV? Not aware of any Saudi golfers?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They got the pga tour. There isn’t an equivalent for them to get in football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that too! Why are they pumping billions in then? You got to ask the right questions. Change creates opportunity. Why are the best players in Europe - money - simple as. If the money moves the players will move.
Listen, I don't see the end game. Maybe they don't either but are prepared to test the water much as ESL did? Time will tell, eh?
Sign in if you want to comment
Neymar
Page 2 of 3
posted on 13/8/23
There's a long history of soccer in Saudi.
They have good players. Their national team have qualified for several recent World Cups and are very competitive.
posted on 13/8/23
I agree with those saying that just buying expensive players doesn't actually make teams/leagues good. Just look at the PL, so much spent on individuals yet there are only about 3 or 4 teams with any sort of cohesion or team spirit.
posted on 13/8/23
I forgot about all those great Saudi players from their long history in the game.
posted on 13/8/23
Anyone know what the experience for the average working Saudi football fan out there, local families etc?
Has it changed ticket prices since the big names started going, the crowds look pretty good at these games now. Going to be a lot of young fans out there for the years to come now and maybe better footballers if they start pumping money into actual football not just entertainment/showbiz.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 2 minutes ago
So you’re saying the average player in Serie A is the same as the average player in Saudi Arabia, lol.
The league have bought a handful of big names with little thought about team development and the players moving there are doing so for an easy time with little competition or intensity. To compare it to any half decent league in Europe is laughable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Laughable I agree but that is not their aim, is it? They are buying instant credibility. You can argue how much but hey we are all talking about it, right?
Go in large and catch the governing bodies and ww stakeholders napping, debating what to do about this new upstart and try to build something that demands attention in the way of accommodating them and enabling the sportswashing. Not that FIFA, UEFA or anyone else is gonna do anything with $ being dangled before them.
Different transfer windows is a real issue.
I see EPL whining about inflated transfer market rates being an excuse to ditch FFP as well. That could cause cracks across Europe and ESL to get raised again rather than the CL changes that are incremental and not quantum steps like the Saudi league.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 5 minutes ago
There's a long history of soccer in Saudi.
They have good players. Their national team have qualified for several recent World Cups and are very competitive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Last team to beat the world champs, right?
posted on 13/8/23
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 2 minutes ago
How would multiple clubs owned by the same entity make it more competitive? There’s no incentive to be the best when you ultimately always win, you have no real preference for a team and your only real concern is making the league more well known with big names. As yet they’re not bringing in players or managers/coaches who genuinely want to be part of one of the worlds best sides, they’re going for money and an easy time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Because if there’s no incentive to win for an individual club then clearly it’s about making the league itself the best spectacle it can be and that’s by making it competitive between the teams within it.
If you’re talking about creating an individual team that’s the best it can be on the world stage then I agree.
posted on 13/8/23
I saw clips of the final of the Arab Champions Cup from last night, and it was serious business.
The crowd was huge and fully invested, and the players were giving everything.
Ronaldo looked as happy to win last night as he did to win any of his titles in England or Spain.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 5 minutes ago
There's a long history of soccer in Saudi.
They have good players. Their national team have qualified for several recent World Cups and are very competitive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Last team to beat the world champs, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep
posted on 13/8/23
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 1 minute ago
I saw clips of the final of the Arab Champions Cup from last night, and it was serious business.
The crowd was huge and fully invested, and the players were giving everything.
Ronaldo looked as happy to win last night as he did to win any of his titles in England or Spain.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It will never compare to people sitting and singing Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea once a match. That's proper football. No other leagues can match that sort of atmosphere
posted on 13/8/23
Anyone paying their tenner a month to watch it on DAZN?
posted on 13/8/23
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 40 seconds ago
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Me either. Couldn’t pay me to watch a Saudi game.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 1 minute ago
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn’t say it did, but if the same entity owns all the clubs then clearly there’s more likelihood they’ll make the teams more evenly matched and competitive than a league could when there’s a vast difference in revenue between the top and the bottom.
Like I said, I agreed with your earlier sentiment about it being pretty much an exhibition league.
posted on 13/8/23
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
posted on 13/8/23
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You could be right. Parallels on the type of players going to Saudi and LiV also.
posted on 13/8/23
I've always felt he was a wee fcking vanker of a man, talented? Aye but a horrific wee fcker of a player so it's difficult for me to day anything positive about him overall?
When he plays I can enjoy his skills but he makes me angry even looking at him
posted on 13/8/23
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
posted on 13/8/23
That and the ownership is completely different too, it’s impossible for them to do to football what they did to golf.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by The Process (U20671)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 40 seconds ago
But I don’t see how buying random big names makes a league competitive, especially if most of these players are moving there to retire and probably not want to put the same effort they have before.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens there over the next few years and if FIFA try to implement any sort of control (probably not) but I have zero interest, if anything it puts me off the sport.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Me either. Couldn’t pay me to watch a Saudi game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
But the masses won't feel that way.
If Neymar and Ronaldo go head-to-head in a big Pro League game or Cup game, people will watch.
Just look at the buzz around the Leagues Cup right now, with Inter Miami making a great run, and Messi scoring goal after goal.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 second ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that but again I'm not too sure the Saudis give two facks and see a bigger picture of buying credibility no matter the cost? I mean what else did they get out of LIV? Not aware of any Saudi golfers?
posted on 13/8/23
Any serious footballer not motivated by money wouldn't go to the Saudi league because it will never have even an ounce of the prestige that the European club competitions and major leagues have and no amount of money will change this.
As for Neymar, hugely unlikeable but immensely talented footballer who didn't have a bad career by any means but I'm sure he regrets spending what should've been the best years of it at PSG.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by The Red Side™ (U11275)
posted 38 seconds ago
Any serious footballer not motivated by money wouldn't go to the Saudi league because it will never have even an ounce of the prestige that the European club competitions and major leagues have and no amount of money will change this.
As for Neymar, hugely unlikeable but immensely talented footballer who didn't have a bad career by any means but I'm sure he regrets spending what should've been the best years of it at PSG.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Why have the best footballers headed to the EPL - for the 'prestige'?
Bollix £££££££££££
posted on 13/8/23
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 second ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that but again I'm not too sure the Saudis give two facks and see a bigger picture of buying credibility no matter the cost? I mean what else did they get out of LIV? Not aware of any Saudi golfers?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They got the pga tour. There isn’t an equivalent for them to get in football.
posted on 13/8/23
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 20 seconds ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 second ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 2 minutes ago
I'm still convinced they wanna do a LIV.
The ESL was conceived and promoted by US money who can see that European soccer is not generating the earnings multiples that NBA & NFL do - about 8x different iirc? I think their problem is they didn't go in bold enough and deliver a knockout blow. Whether that was number of clubs or countries or cash pot I don't know but it fell quickly.
PIF have the funds that's for sure. Say they expand the 4 teams to 8 and take a whole raft more players. Say it becomes 16 and players start looking thinking I gotta get in early for a piece of the action? European teams struggling to sign decent players as almost all the out of contracts head middle east? Say other ME states join in? Suddenly there's an avalanche, the CL and national leagues are diminished and UEFA / FIFA cave in negotiations and a new order is created?
Plausible and golf parallels, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, golf was still just two leagues really before liv came along and arguably only one that really mattered, there’s also the completely different way fans engage with the sports.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that but again I'm not too sure the Saudis give two facks and see a bigger picture of buying credibility no matter the cost? I mean what else did they get out of LIV? Not aware of any Saudi golfers?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They got the pga tour. There isn’t an equivalent for them to get in football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I get that too! Why are they pumping billions in then? You got to ask the right questions. Change creates opportunity. Why are the best players in Europe - money - simple as. If the money moves the players will move.
Listen, I don't see the end game. Maybe they don't either but are prepared to test the water much as ESL did? Time will tell, eh?
Page 2 of 3