European Super League, a prime example of capitalism gone mad
UEFA Champions League in grave peril if Super League goes ahead
JP Morgan and current Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, along with the owners of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, have concocted the Super League in a prime example of capitalism gone mad.
It’s the most seismic and nefarious plot world football has had the displeasure of bearing witness to. The Super League, if it goes ahead, will have a widespread, catastrophic impact not only on the UEFA Champions League, but on numerous domestic leagues too.
Liverpool's John W. Henry, Joel Glazer of Manchester United and Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke are the three American owners spearheading the underhanded project. It's yet another example of the rich getting extortionately richer, a seriously troubling recurring theme that has amplified considerably since the pandemic’s onset.
JP Morgan, the juggernaut investment firm financing the project, is expected to shell out about $425 million to participating clubs, which thus far include Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Liverpool, Juventus, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid.
For simply committing to the project, clubs will earn more than four times what Bayern Munich earned for winning the 2020 Champions League.
That financial windfall makes it an offer nigh impossible to turn down. The Champions League would be hardest hit by the advent of the new league. Like the Zambezi during dry season, it would be drained completely of its most elite assets, leaving in its wake an immeasurably inferior product, resembling closely the current Europa League. The trickle down effect would also weaken significantly the Europa League, turning it into a product as desirable as a Nokia mobile device.
And then there’s TV rights to consider. Broadcasters contractually tied to the Champions League would want to sever ties faster than Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
It’s an outrageous attempt by hedge funds, greedy oligarchs, and extremely wealthy clubs, most of whom are managed by narcissistic monomaniacs, to line their own coffers while creating irredeemable disparity between the haves and have nots.
Overwhelming opposition from football’s governing bodies
Pretty much every governing football body in Europe, along with FIFA, are appalled by the mere thought of the renegade league, which acts as a perfect case study for all that is wrong with capitalism in its current form.
Each governing body will try their utmost to scupper the aforementioned owners’ selfish and grandiose plans.
FIFA is proposing that any player participating in the Super League will not be permitted to represent their nation, a move that should sufficiently deter would-be clubs.
The English FA is playing with the idea of banning participating clubs from the Premier League. However, that drastic move would inflict unimaginable financial and damage on their own league, as a Premier League without the top six clubs is as unappealing as running a marathon after smashing a flame grilled Nando’s peri-peri chicken.
While the intent is admirable, the result would be akin to hitting on a bird at the bar while dining with your wife mere metres away.
More than ever the world is in dire need of solidarity. Continually watching the rich become richer will only exacerbate global disparity and the already deep-seated rift between classes.
One of the worst parts about the Super League, and I say this with an increased level of self guilt, like a sinner on route to confession, is the thought of just how seductive and alluring it is.
Even the vast majority who are vehemently opposed to its inception will find it difficult to turn a blind eye when Manchester City battle Real Madrid as a part of its routine Wednesday programming.
It’s incumbent upon all formalized governing bodies and, if need be, the European Union to prevent this ill-conceived idea from getting to that point.
Hellbent on stopping this idea in its tracks, Europe’s governing football bodies have found a compelling reason to unify and showcase precisely the type of solidarity required to stick it to the man, or in this case four leading hoarding men and an audacious, too-big-to-fail hedge fund.
Maybe that should have been the title of this piece.