Premier League In The USA? The Countless Pros And Major Cons In Going Stateside

Talk of the English league being played in America has been met with great opposition
07:00, 07 Oct 2022

It’s fair to say that Jim White’s suggestion on Sunday wasn’t particularly popular. Hosting a talkSPORT show from outside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of the Minnesota Vikings’ NFL clash with the New Orleans Saints, the presenter admitted that he’d be in favour of a similar arrangement for football. Premier League matches in the USA? He’s all for it.

Others are not. The integrity of a 38-game season is at stake, according to the traditionalists. If your side forfeits a home game in order to play abroad and goes down by a point? Yep, it’s all because of that one match, not the other 20-odd they’ve failed to turn up for.

But there are a mountain of positives behind the idea. There would be a huge increase in fan base, for a start. Think of all those American Premier League fans who have no established tie to a club. One visit by Wolves to the USA might be all it takes to get them hooked to the All Gold, a single autograph from Ivan Toney or Jefferson Lerma before a game may be enough to make them Brentford or Bournemouth supporters for life.

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There’s the extra exposure too, with the talk show circuits creating a huge opportunity for clubs to be presented to a new audience, and the money generated by selling the games to America would undoubtedly be a huge attraction for both league bosses and club decision-makers alike.

The NFL have already proved that there are massive audiences in London for even the less popular clubs, and similarly there would still be a draw for Fulham v Southampton in Miami in November. The NBC coverage in the States has helped to build a great popularity for the league, and the admiration for the Ted Lasso series has even introduced non-football fans to the game. So there are plenty of reasons to take the sport to North America.

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There would be drawbacks though. While the travel troubles for regular fans would be raised as a problem, these games would not be targeted at them. Would they suddenly be switched off to their club just because 37 rather than 38 games are attainable fixtures? Or 18 home games instead of 19? In the Betfred Super League the addition of the Magic Weekend and loop fixtures has become a fairly accepted part of the season over the past 15 years. Why couldn’t the same happen in football?

Traditionalism in the nation’s most popular sport does run deep, though, so fans might not be on board and it is certainly true that the increased travel between continents would increase the environmental toll. But above and beyond any other argument comes the ‘What next?’ factor.

If matches in the States were a success, what would stop the Premier League from pushing the boat out further? Where else could they go to? Australia? Sure, why not. India? Absolutely. Dubai? Qatar? Saudi Arabia? Russia? OK, we’re getting into more problematic territory here. Just as the introduction of goal-line technology was presented as a very definite way to deal with one issue and VAR soon followed as a far more subjective addition, the decision to take games to one country could precipitate floodgates being opened in far less desirable venues.

Thankfully, this feels like a decision which is some way from being made. While Premier League bosses remain fearful of a European Super League, tradition is one card they retain in their pocket. Any decision to start exporting their product would surely speed up the move the top six clubs still look likely to make at some point.

So while the proposal shouldn’t be immediately dismissed out of hand, and there are probably more positives than negatives in terms of quantity, the down sides are too glaring to ignore. Keep the Premier League in England, at least for now.

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