Seems the Premier League is ever so gently floating the idea of playing games overseas again, just to see what happens. Here’s what the Associated Press was reporting this morning:
People with knowledge of the situation have told The Associated Press that clubs have now asked the league to conduct a feasibility study into global expansion options. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions have been in private.
This seems like more of a test balloon than a leak, gauging public opinion just to see what the reaction is, because last time the Premier League suggests something similar, the people were not impressed.
That original idea, first suggested back in 2008, was known as the “39th game” because it would have been an extra game for each team, played in various Premier League-loving cities around the world. The negative reaction centered around the quite accurate idea that a 39th game would unbalance the traditional home and away, 38-game schedule.
The new proposal is more in line with what happens when the NFL play a game at Wembley Stadium in London—a game which would have taken place in the home team’s stadium gets transplanted overseas. Only the Premier League would do this with every matchup for an entire gameweek.
The Football Supporters’ Federation are understandably unimpressed. While playing league games overseas gets around the unbalanced schedule problem of Game 39, it will rob 10 Premier League teams and their fans of one home game per season. Here’s the FSF statement:
Once again the idea of potentially huge changes to the game has arisen without consultation with one of the groups who matters most – the fans. If the reaction to previous incarnations of ‘Game 39’ and the idea of matches abroad is anything to go by, we expect this proposal to be met with the strongest possible opposition from supporters.
The potential impact on the value of season tickets, which would see fans of half the Premier League clubs missing out a home match, could be enormous. Inevitably some of the fixtures to be moved will be either local derbies or other high-profile fixtures.
The FSF is against the proposals as they have been reported, and will be consulting with Premier League fans’ groups and individuals to formulate an appropriate response.
But it’s worth remembering that the FSF is a largely England-based organization, while the Premier League’s fans are no longer largely England-based.
There are genuine fans in places outside England who live for the highs and lows of their team just as much as supporters who live next to the stadium do. The phenomenal attendances for preseason yours are testament to this, with the 109,000 in Michigan for Man Utd vs Real Madrid being the best example.
Seeing an actual league game played in their city, be it New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Mumbai, Lagos or wherever else, would mean the world to these foreign-based Premier League fans. So before we all bash the Premier League for ambitious empire-building and money-grabbing, it’s worth considering that there are literally millions of football fans outside England ready to welcome Premier League teams to their city with open arms and full lungs.