The Premier League has announced that they are looking to expand the season by one extra match that will be played in cities like Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Sydney, Johannesburg, Dubai and Beijing. Not surprisingly the blow-back has been enormous. Supporters, managers and club officials have been in an uproar since Thursday’s announcement. One of the comments that I read on a discussion thread said that they shouldn’t have to pay for twenty home games if one of them is going to be played in another country. Actually the report I read (and they may have reported it wrong) was that it would be an extra game, so all of the home and away fixtures would be available.
Sir Alex Ferguson has come out and said that if you are going to add an extra fixture to an already filled schedule, the managers should be consulted before making it a public issue. A crowded fixture schedule didn’t seem to curtail a trip to Saudi Arabia. The managers should have been consulted, but to say that the crowded schedule is a problem is asinine. Premiership teams travel quite a bit in the pre-season to global destinations (not every team does, but more do it every year) and trot out their B team while charging the international fans quite a bit.
This isn’t about making the English game available to the world. If the Premier League really cared about reaching around the globe it would be easier to watch the League matches we want to see. And how are they going to make the travel worth it for all of the teams? I would walk to Los Angeles to see Manchester United play Arsenal if all of the stars are going to play. But, why would I pay to see West Brom play Reading? Nothing against either team, they just don’t have enough of a fan base in the US to make it worth their coming over. The Premiership should put together a promotional tour of globally followed clubs versus smaller clubs. People will turn up for Middlesbrough if they are playing Chelsea, not if they’re playing Wigan.
Another con would be Sepp Blatter getting involved as the plan progresses. THAT’S the kiss of death to any plan. If you want to watch an idea swirl it’s way down the bog get FIFA involved.
