Giovanni Vurro
Spring 2024
WRIT340
April 18, 2021, is the date the football world was taken by storm. For the first time in my life, I saw rival fans put their differences aside and unite for a single purpose. “Their” proposal would have torn apart the sport that we share and love. I say their because they are not one of us - passionate fans who have watched, suffered, and triumphed with our teams for decades. “They” are selfish, greedy, egotistical CEOs, whose involvement is directly correlated to the amount of money deposited in their bank account. This article will take you through the rise and fall of the European Super League and why it was stopped.
What is the European Super League?
The European Super League is the most controversial proposal for changing standard competition formats. The original proposal includes 12 founding members: 6 from England (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspurs), 3 from Spain (Atletico Madrid, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF), and 3 from Italy (AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus). The idea was that alongside their domestic league competition and the UEFA Champions League, these 12 teams would compete in a closed-league format exclusive to them regardless of their domestic performance. It would guarantee them fixed amounts of money every season, essentially making the rich richer. This idea undermined the principles that make football special, rewarding teams based on their performances, not their budgets. Imagine if in 2016 after their history-defining title season, Leicester City was not granted access to a single European Competition.
Origins of the Proposal
The preeminent example can be seen in the English Premier League, widely considered as the standard for domestic football. Over time a circle had been formed with the owners of the “Big 6” - Daniel Levy (Tottenham), Joel Glazer (Manchester United), John Henry (Liverpool), Stan Kroenke (Arsenal), and Bruce Buck (Chelsea). At the center of their plan to join the ESL was Bruce Buck, the former chief executive of Chelsea who jumped upon the opportunity to ride with the most powerful owner in football, Florentino Perez. Whose idea was in essence simple, let the biggest clubs in the world play each other week after week, (maybe) guaranteeing sold-out stadiums and driving up ticket sales and sponsorships. The Athletic’s, Kieran Maguire, did an excellent job compiling financial figures for the top clubs in the world before and after COVID-19. Looking at it economically some of the concerns these clubs (12 listed above) had were fair, their profits had decreased by $900 million dollars since the pandemic. Individually, certain clubs were more well off than others, for example, the Italian clubs operated on much smaller budgets relative to the English, and as a result, a stabilized income would help them close that gap. A central part of this income is related to broadcasting deals, which currently run through UEFA, not the individual clubs. Instead of having to split broadcasting revenue between 32 clubs, the Super League would concentrate that money between 12-15 instead. Financially the Super League would provide a safety net that clubs did not have before, although one could and should argue that these clubs are already the richest in the world. Imagine how much worse off the other 99.9% of clubs would be if they were forced to participate in “less exciting” competitions with less revenue to share between them.
The Reaction and Dismissal
The reaction to this proposal was an uproar, there is no other word to describe the effect it had on fans around the world. Anyone who heard the news will distinctly remember later that day watching Gary Neville deliver a passionate speech, rallying the fans to combat this consolidation of competition. The reaction from fans was so strong, so unified that 9 out of 12 clubs announced their departure within 48 hours. There were those calling for the owners to sell the club, an exclusion from European Competition, a deduction in points in their domestic competitions, and fines for tens of millions of dollars. Thousands of fans were gathered outside their respective stadiums around Europe, protesting and pleading that the sport we love would not be changed forever. The majority of supporter groups surrounding the “Big 6” English clubs called for more of a voice in decision-making. They wanted to ensure that the executives were prioritizing the club and its fans over profits and losses. The power of fans in football cannot be underestimated, it is incredibly different from those in American Sports. A prime example of this is, Duncan Drasdo, the Manchester United Supporter’s Trust (MUST), chief executive. Drasdo was on a call with former UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, asking for a governmental intervention to bring more regulation and balance to the power bestowed upon club owners. It may seem ridiculous that the Prime Minister would get involved in such matters, but in Europe, football is more than a sport - it is an integral part of people’s lives.
To illustrate just how saturated with consequences the Super League would be if it goes through consider this hypothetical. You are a fan of a smaller-market team, you certainly are not one to be mocked, but there are never truly high expectations for your club. After all, how can you compete with the billions of dollars the largest clubs in the world have access to? The threat of relegation is a serious one, the money the lower leagues receive exponentially decreases and it could send your club spiraling to bankruptcy in a matter of months. Yet, you battle, season after season, dreaming of playing in the UEFA Champions League receiving money that could propel your club forward for the next decade. One momentous season, everything goes your way and here you are crowned domestic champions after 30-odd years and now come 6 clubs ready to take all those benefits away. 6 clubs who believe they have earned the right to receive fixed sums year after year and compete in a league with no relegation - never having to face the reality that bankruptcy is a possibility. By removing themselves from your competition broadcasting partners sign smaller deals, fewer people watch your league, fewer tickets are sold at each match, less money is made, less investment into the academies (youth players), and fewer opportunities for the kids looking to pursue their dreams. Now having survived the lows of the pandemic your club will have to fight every season, selling off their best talents to the biggest teams, just to break even. This hypothetical is a reality that the majority of fans around the world would have had to face had this proposal continued on its path.
Closing Thoughts
I am closing this article with my own personal thoughts. As someone who was brought into the world of football as soon as I was born, it truly is a special game to be a part of. Seeing my boyhood club (Inter Milan) be a part of this conspiracy hurt worse than I would like to admit. I thought about my hometown club (SSC Bari) who just a few years ago went into bankruptcy and underwent a test of trials and tribulations to bring themselves back into the 2nd highest division in Italian Football. Teams like that work tirelessly to develop their local talent and be fortunate enough to sell that player off for exponentially more money. Money that would be used to fund their campaigns in the following seasons where they hope to reach the top divisions. But with this proposal why would clubs ever compete again? What would be the point if money was going to be consolidated towards 12 clubs anyway? As if there was not enough disparity among the elitist teams they wanted to create even more. The beautiful part about football is that on any given day either team can win, no matter how large, rich, or popular, and taking that part away would have ruined the sport in unimaginable ways. Often the relegation battles where you club strings together 5 victories in a row to save themselves are even more exciting than the title races because so much more is on the line. I truly have nothing but relief that this proposal was stopped in its tracks, there is a certain heritage to football that is best left untouched - just as we want it. After all, football is about the fans.
Part II: Reflection
For Writing Project 3, I decided to write a sports article. I would not necessarily classify it as a pure opinion piece, but I did want to leave a significant impression of my thoughts on the reader. Considering the topic I think my choice of genre was ideal. My goal was to be able to communicate and share my opinions regarding something I considered myself fairly knowledgeable about. Since Writing Project 1, I have discussed my willingness to want to write an article of this nature. For over a decade, I have read countless sports media articles and wanted to write my own and maybe even debut it to friends and family. Sports is something that has continued to play an important role in my life, football especially. However, I never took the time to sit down and compile my thoughts and synthesize them with some of the other great articles I have already read.
My main source of inspiration was a sports journal I follow known as The Athletic. I consider them as part of the upper echelon when it comes to sports journalism. Unlike other media outlets such as ESPN or CBS who I believe write a lot of their stories under the base of clickbait, The Athletic goes much more into detail which fans like me appreciate. Generally, sports articles are no more than a few pages long and rarely include complex themes or language. Their main purpose is to inform readers or offer an opinion as someone who is typically more knowledgeable regarding the topic they are writing about. Often they may be entirely opinionated and offer the journalist an opportunity to sway the reader one way or another. On the other hand, I have seen several articles that are entirely informational and do their best to keep personal opinions out - but this is rarely the case. As a result of this, I wanted to fall into more of a hybrid role, I wanted to include key information that fans may be unaware of but I also wanted room for me to organize and orchestrate my own opinion. Leaving space for the reader to reflect and agree or disagree with whatever I had to say.
Audiences can have a wide range, some may be those looking for sources to increase their knowledge on a certain topic to feel less left out in groups. Others are fanatics like me, who in their free time would rather read a piece on a popular topic within a sport than aimlessly scroll through Instagram. My ideal target audience would fall in this range, I wanted this article to be a bridge for newer followers to expand their knowledge while also providing long-term fans with new information. Finding this balance is something I realized to be extremely difficult, there were times when I had to pull myself back from being overly sharing information to avoid drowning out my readers.
Looking forward to Writing Project 4, I am a bit concerned about finding a new direction to pivot in. While I did find a vast amount of information, which will prove to be useful for a variety of genres. I felt comfortable writing a sports article because I had read hundreds of them beforehand. One idea that I have considered is writing to a board of Super League members as a third-party organization - wanting to offer feedback as to what went wrong and being willing to act as the spokesperson. But, if possible it would certainly be something I would like to avoid. Another possibility would be writing as a director for one of the supporter’s groups explaining the disappointment felt and how the fans want to see those at the top of the club held accountable.