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New York Times
7 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Why has there never been a challenger to the Premier League like LIV Golf or the XFL?
The Premier League has established itself as the most popular football league in the world. Billions of pounds flow into its coffers through the sale of international broadcast rights. Its stadiums have become tourist attractions, bringing in visitors from around the world. While some of Europe's other leagues are home to huge clubs and superstars players (Kylian Mbappe at Real Madrid in La Liga, for example), they all fall considerably short of the Premier League when it comes to eyeballs and money. Advertisement There have been attempts to bridge the gap. Some Spanish and Italian clubs tried to disrupt English football's financial dominance with the proposed European Super League (ESL), an alternative to the Champions League, which became public in April 2021. A22 Sports and Florentino Perez, Real Madrid's president, were at the forefront of the plans, with the backing of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Milan and Inter. Six Premier League clubs — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur — agreed to join it too, seemingly attracted by the improved financial proposition compared with the Champions League. But condemnation from other clubs and supporters led to their withdrawal within days. That was the only time the Premier League's supremacy has been seriously challenged. Why? The Premier League itself could be described as a model challenger league. At the beginning of the 1990s, English First Division clubs decided to pursue wholesale changes. That led to the 22 top-flight teams resigning from the Football League and seeking independence from the Football Association so they could control their own commercial and broadcast income. They formed the Premier League, which cranked into life on August 15, 1992. The number of clubs was then reduced from 22 to 20 at the end of the 1994-95 season. The wealth of this season's clubs is underlined by the table below, which shows the estimated final earnings of each team But in the eyes of Richard Scudamore, the former chief executive credited with turning the Premier League into the global behemoth it is today, describing the English top flight as a challenger league is wrong. 'Nothing changed, right?' Scudamore tells The Athletic. 'It's not like LIV Golf, the IPL (cricket's Indian Premier League) or the proposed European Super League. The Premier League didn't come along and say they were going to compete head-to-head with the existing structure of English football. Advertisement 'The smartest thing about it was that it was all change, but nothing changed. It was really just a marketing arrangement. When the Premier League season started, 92 teams in England all lined up, so it disrupted only in a governance sense — it didn't disrupt in a footballing sense. But it certainly disrupted the economics of the sport.' Charlie Stillitano disagrees. In the Italian-American executive's eyes, the Premier League certainly is the 'ultimate' challenger league — especially in how it has usurped the other major leagues in Europe, including Spain, Italy, Germany and France. Stillitano is the president of TEG Sport for North America, the former executive chairman of Relevent Sports, and he is known as football's 'Mr Fixer' when organising and promoting games for European sides in the United States. One of the reasons Stillitano doesn't believe a new competitor league to the Premier League is plausible is down to the money that has been poured into England's top flight via broadcast deals, including in the U.S., where NBC pay $450million (£332.4m) a year for exclusive rights. 'That that created, at least in the U.S., a bit of a vacuum for everyone else,' Stillitano tells The Athletic. 'What people forget is we had the economic crisis in 2008 and then financial fair play kicked in, so all those things conspired to make the Premier League, with the money they had, the main league. 'The only league that could really compete was La Liga in Spain. They had the two best teams (Barcelona and Real Madrid) with the two best players (Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) in the world for 10 years, but a lot of that was when they were on BeIN and there were only eight million viewers over here. 'And when you look at the Premier League now, the economics have gotten so out of whack and they become so incredible in the Premier League relative to the other leagues. Advertisement 'What's changed dramatically is the actual figures involved in the Premier League. They have created the 'super league' in England. 'You would need to create a league as rich as they are, and the only way that can happen is if you try to cobble together all the teams that tried to join the European Super League.' In other sports, challenger leagues are much more common. Major League Soccer (MLS) in the U.S. is about to have a rival on its doorstep, with the United Soccer League (USL) set to launch a new first-division men's professional league in 2027-28. The USL already has two professional leagues, the second-tier USL Championship and the third-tier USL League One. But it has plans to have a 12- or 14-team first division in place for the 2027-28 campaign, which would operate as a direct competitor to MLS. The NFL, America's biggest and most popular sport, has grown massively in recent years and now hosts multiple games abroad every year, but even they have been subject to other leagues trying to muscle their way into the conversation, though ineffectively. In 2001, Vince McMahon, best known for his role as a co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), created the XFL, which operated as a joint venture between the WWE and NBC. The plan was that it would be another American football league that would begin at the end of the NFL season. The first match attracted more than 15 million viewers, but that number quickly plummeted, leading to its demise after only one season. In 2018, McMahon returned and had another crack at entering the American football market by reviving the XFL with new rules to help speed up the game and differentiate it from the NFL. There were eight teams across the U.S. and the season would run from February to May, with each side playing 10 regular-season fixtures before four teams entered a play-off to eventually crown a champion. Advertisement ESPN reported that McMahon expected to spend around $500m on reviving the XFL. It attracted sponsors such as Gatorade and the Anheuser-Busch company, and had more than three million TV viewers, as reported by the LA Times, on the opening weekend. But only months into the 2020 season, its first one back, the Covid-19 pandemic led to the rest of the campaign being cancelled. On April 10, the XFL filed for bankruptcy. 'The challenge for XFL was that the NFL had the billionaires, and there wasn't enough money to dislodge the NFL,' Stillitano says. Marc Trestman, a successful American football coach who most recently worked with the Los Angeles Chargers as a senior offensive assistant in 2024, signed up to coach the Tampa Bay Vipers, one of the now-defunct XFL teams. 'The XFL was an opportunity for me to lead, I was in a great place and I was impressed by Oliver Luck (the XFL's CEO) and his presentation and how the league went about doing things,' Trestman told The Athletic. 'We never approached the XFL as being in competition with the NFL, and we never looked at it that way. From a leadership standpoint, we never tried to say we were going to be the NFL. 'The fact they would take a whole year to ramp up the league, and not jump into it immediately, was a green flag that said they were trying to do it the right way. 'All the flags were positive. We traveled first class, our training facility was first class and we had the resources we needed to do the job. When we left in March 2020, we really felt that we were going to be a good team, but we really felt good about the league — and most of the coaches felt the same way.' Although Trestman said the pay for coaches was 'very, very good', there was a chasm between what players in the NFL were earning compared to those in the XFL. One left tackle in the XFL was being paid 'around $125,000' a year, while 'the best tackles in the NFL may earn $20m' a year, Trestman says. Advertisement Players' earnings were not an issue for LIV Golf, a breakaway golf competition bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). It entered the fray in 2021, causing a metaphorical earthquake in a game that the PGA Tour had dominated. The aftershocks are still being felt. Golf's most successful players were targeted, with some accepting nine-figure sums to leave the PGA Tour behind. Dustin Johnson, a former world No 1 who had already amassed more than $70m in career earnings, was reportedly given a $150m signing-on fee to join LIV Golf. Yet while money was never an issue, credibility was — and the PGA Tour remains the dominant organiser of golf events, with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, arguably golf's biggest names, choosing to stay. 'LIV Golf is interesting because golf is made up of individuals,' says Scudamore. 'Individual sports are going to be more vulnerable to somebody coming along and going, 'Right, I'm going to pay you more than you've been paid before as an individual'. 'When that happens, it is only the athlete, their agent and advisors who have to decide whether they want to switch. When someone comes along and asks whether they want to be paid a lot more for doing a lot less, guaranteed for three years, that is going to be attractive. 'When you look across the whole sporting landscape, you can just see sports that are ripe for disruption. But I don't think the Premier League is ripe for disruption.' Scudamore says the Premier League's competition still comes from other leagues, adding that 'the economics of a challenger league being set up to challenge its existence are just so difficult'. 'You would need the money to build appropriate stadiums capable of hosting matches, you then need to buy and pay the players, set up the teams, and build other infrastructure such as a training ground,' he says. 'To do that is so, so hard.' Advertisement The most recent attempt to draw away some of the Premier League's dominance has been the money being poured into the Saudi Pro League (SPL) by the nation's Public Investment Fund. Ronaldo, for example, left Manchester United to join Al Nassr on a money-spinning deal, worth more than £170m ($230m at current rates) a year, in January 2023. Riyad Mahrez, a five-time Premier League winner who was at Manchester City, left for the SPL a few months later, signing for Al Ahli. Two former Liverpool players, Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson, were signed by SPL clubs (Al Nassr and Al Ettifaq respectively). Last summer, Brentford and England striker Ivan Toney left the Premier League for Al Ahli. Deloitte reported that in 2023, SPL clubs spent more than $950m on new signings. This also coincided with clubs investing in their infrastructure, with projects ongoing. Yet despite the significant investment, including infrastructure, it remains to be seen whether the SPL will become one of the most popular leagues in world football, with many political and environmental hurdles to overcome. Stillitano also points to the power of clubs as brands. 'You can create a new league and say you are going to be big because we have the money to be big, but you have to have the money and the brands,' he says. 'That's why the only league that could have competed with the Premier League was the European Super League.' The company behind the ESL rebranded and created a new concept called the 'Unify League', which would see 96 teams divided into four divisions with 16 teams each in the top two tiers and 32 in the second two. At a Premier League meeting in June 2022, the owners' charter was updated to include the following: 'We will not engage in the creation of new competition formats outside of the Premier League's rules.' Individual players may be tempted but for now, Premier League clubs themselves seem unlikely to take part in any new rival competition. 'The prospect of a challenger league is a pretty nebulous one — in the Premier League, each of the clubs is a single shareholder giving them an equal vote on all matters and a right to the distribution of broadcast and commercial revenues,' says Samuel Cuthbert, a sports and commercial law barrister at 4 New Square Chambers. Advertisement 'The FA has a special share in the Premier League — known as the golden share — which means that certain actions can only be taken with its approval. Any challenger league would likely need ratification from the FA, as the Premier League did, but that may be difficult to acquire given the clear stake the FA has in the Premier League.' Quitting the Premier League is not impossible, though. 'In terms of the mechanics of a club leaving, it's possible under rules B.7 and B.9 of the Premier League handbook for a club to resign from the Premier League, which would take effect at midnight on the last day of the third season following the season in which notice is given,' Cuthbert adds. 'There is an ongoing requirement that at some point in each March of those intervening three seasons, the club giving such notice shall notify the Premier League's company secretary in writing whether such notice is confirmed or withdrawn. If no such notice is given in any year, the notice under Rule B.7 is deemed to have been withdrawn.' Cuthbert's conclusion is that it is 'very difficult to foresee a successful challenger to the Premier League establishing itself at the top of English football'. Playing devil's advocate for a moment, Stillitano doesn't think it's impossible. 'Let's be honest, there are enough billionaires in the world, and they might say, 'Let's scrap this relegation and promotion thing in England',' he says of a rival league. He adds: 'You need to have a country that is really robust. One country that you could do it in is the United States. Players would come here, you can pay them the money and they will have a good life, and it's the biggest media market and commercial market in the world. 'But we also have sports fans who like football. You could get billionaires here together to do it, but you need the courage to do it.' Last week, a new global women's seven-a-side tournament — World Sevens Football (WS7) — took place in Portugal. Bayern Munich beat Manchester United 2-1 in the final, earning $2.5m in prize money. Six other teams, including Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, also competed for a combined prize pot worth $5m. As seven-a-side football is not a recognised form of football by FIFA or UEFA, WS7 did not need permission from either governing body to kickstart the new concept and attract players and clubs to participate. Over the past few weeks, the Baller League has been broadcast in the UK. Its founder and chief executive, Felix Starck, described it as 'a new way to consume football'. It includes former professionals and social media influencers to attract a younger audience, and has been successful in Germany. But it wasn't set up to challenge the Premier League. Nor would it be able to. Advertisement At least for now, England's top flight will maintain its position as the most-watched football league in the world, scaring off potential competitors through its sheer popularity and the well-established history of its biggest clubs. The wait for them to be challenged goes on.
Scotsman
02-06-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
How competition law helps preserve a level playing field
Many rules to restrict entry ornote-0protect formats are not illegal, writes Viktoria Tsvetanova Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... You may not have heard of competition law, but you have definitely heard of the European Super League. Or LIV Golf splitting up the professional game. Or tennis stars suing the sport's governing bodies. What ties all these together? They are not just headline-grabbing dramas – they are all about two things: who gets to compete and on what terms. Enter competition law. At its core, competition law is about keeping powerful players in check. In most industries, that means making sure big companies do not gang up to fix prices, shut out rivals or strangle innovation. It exists to protect choice – for consumers, businesses or new challengers trying to break through. It governs the agreements companies make with each other, stops dominant players from abusing their position and blocks acquisitions if they risk killing competition. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sport might seem like a world apart – built on passion, tradition and rivalries, not market share. However, when a single body controls who can play, where they can play and under what rules, competition law starts to matter. In recent years, we have seen legal battles erupt over breakaway leagues, media rights, youth player transfers and even agent regulations – all testing whether the rules of sport are fair, or designed to keep control in the hands of the few. Viktoria Tsvetanova is a Senior Associate, Dentons (Picture: Graham Clark) Regulators have made it clear: sport governing bodies cannot just protect their turf, they must justify their rules. In the European Super League and the International Skating Union cases, the European Court of Justice confirmed any restrictions on new competitions must be fair, transparent and proportionate – not simply a way to block rivals. In golf, LIV's challenge to the PGA Tour raised the question of whether banning players from one tour for joining another was anti-competitive. The case remains unresolved, but the two tours have proposed a merger, which will be scrutinised closely by competition regulators. In tennis, the newly formed Professional Tennis Players Association has launched actions against the sport's governing bodies, alleging the current structure unfairly limits players' earnings and freedom. In skiing, attempts to centralise global media rights triggered lawsuits from national federations who argued they were being shut out of their own markets. In Scotland, a complaint to the UK Competition and Markets Authority alleges youth transfer rules in football unfairly restrict player movement. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad However, sport is not just a commercial sector and the law needs to recognise that. Its appeal lies in a shared structure, a pyramid where everyone, from grassroots to elite, plays by the same rules. Arguably, sport's entertainment value depends on its top athletes competing in the same tournaments, creating compelling rivalries, drama and continuity that fans and broadcasters crave. Break that up with splintered competitions, parallel rankings or clashing calendars and the magic fades. Look at boxing; with multiple governing bodies and rival titles, some of the biggest fights fans want to see never happen. That's why many rules to restrict entry or protect formats are not illegal. Sporting rules just need to be proportionate, explainable and genuinely aimed at preserving the integrity of the sport. Dentons new logo So yes, competition law now matters in sport – not to dictate who wins, but to ensure the game itself stays fair. It is a tool, not a solution. When used well, it protects innovation and progress. However, used bluntly, it risks breaking the very structure that gives sport its meaning. The challenge now is ensuring competition regulators strike the right balance.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Glazers in numbers: key figures across two decades at Manchester United
Initial percentage of Manchester United bought by Malcolm Glazer in May 2003 – by the end of the year it stood at 15%. Percentage Glazer increased his holding to in June 2004 after claiming in March of that year that he had 'no current intention' of bidding. Sum Glazer agreed to pay JP McManus and John Magnier on 12 May 2005 for their 28.7% holding in United, buying their shares for £3 each. Four days later, Glazer had acquired a total share in the club of 75%, which allowed him to delist United from the London Stock Exchange. This occurred on 22 June and soon Glazer owned 98% of the club via his Red Football parent company. Debt loaded on to United as a direct result of Glazer's purchase of the club. Interest repayments on that debt stood at £62m per annum. Number of Glazer children – Joel and Avram – who took over the day-to-day running of United when Malcolm suffered a stroke in April 2006. The then world-record fee Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for in June 2009. Amount raised in the two weeks after the commencement of a bond issue in January 2010 that allowed Glazer to payoff most of the £509m he owed to international banks. United's total debt nine days after the commencement of the bond issue. Number of Manchester United Supporters' Trust membership aimed for by the Red Knights – a consortium made up of City bankers and lawyers – in order to complete a purchase of United. This occurred in early March 2010, rising soon after to 125,000. There are currently more than 200,000 members. Amount financial analysts estimated would need to be raised by the Red Knights, or any other entity, in order to purchase United given Glazer's own valuation of the club – £1.6bn ($2.14bn). United's valuation according to the New York Stock Exchange after club shares start trading on the NYSE in August 2012. The Glazer family make £75m from the process. Malcolm Glazer's age when he died in May 2014, leaving his six children as co-owners of the club. It emerged a year later that they would be paid more than £15m a year by the club. Number of teams in April 2021's proposed European Super League of which Joel Glazer was a prime force. The idea was swiftly killed after an intense supporter backlash. Estimated value of United when the Glazer siblings announced a potential sale of the club in November 2022. Sir Jim Ratcliffe's minority holding as of last December after the Glazers sold part of their holding to the British billionaire. United's current debt, incorporating Glazer's initial £790m leveraged buyout, plus an additional £300m in outstanding transfer fees, with a £300m loss recorded in the past three years. Approximate amount, in Euros, United have spent on signings since Glazer's purchase, according to Approximate amount, in Euros, United have received in sales since Glazer's purchase, according to Premier League titles won by Sir Alex Ferguson, the last of which was secured in May 2013, just before his retirement from management. Premier League titles won by United's various managers in the proceeding 12 years. United's current position in the Premier League. They were third when Glazer took over 20 years ago.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Glazers in numbers: key figures across two decades at Manchester United
(Left to right): An anti-Glazer protest at Old Trafford; former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær; a mask of Joel Glazer is seen on the ground after a protest. (Left to right): An anti-Glazer protest at Old Trafford; former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær; a mask of Joel Glazer is seen on the ground after a protest. Composite: Getty Images, Reuters 2.9 Initial percentage of Manchester United bought by Malcolm Glazer in May 2003 – by the end of the year it stood at 15%. 20 Percentage Glazer increased his holding to in June 2004 after claiming in March of that year that he had 'no current intention' of bidding. £790m Sum Glazer agreed to pay JP McManus and John Magnier on 12 May 2005 for their 28.7% holding in United, buying their shares for £3 each. Four days later, Glazer had acquired a total share in the club of 75%, which allowed him to delist United from the London Stock Exchange. This occurred on 22 June and soon Glazer owned 98% of the club via his Red Football parent company. £660m Debt loaded on to United as a direct result of Glazer's purchase of the club. Interest repayments on that debt stood at £62m per annum. 2 Number of Glazer children – Joel and Avram – who took over the day-to-day running of United when Malcolm suffered a stroke in April 2006. £80m The then world-record fee Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for in June 2009. £504m Amount raised in the two weeks after the commencement of a bond issue in January 2010 that allowed Glazer to payoff most of the £509m he owed to international banks. £716.5m United's total debt nine days after the commencement of the bond issue. 100,000 Number of Manchester United Supporters' Trust membership aimed for by the Red Knights – a consortium made up of City bankers and lawyers – in order to complete a purchase of United. This occurred in early March 2010, rising soon after to 125,000. There are currently more than 200,000 members. £2bn Amount financial analysts estimated would need to be raised by the Red Knights, or any other entity, in order to purchase United given Glazer's own valuation of the club – £1.6bn ($2.14bn). $2.3bn United's valuation according to the New York Stock Exchange after club shares start trading on the NYSE in August 2012. The Glazer family make £75m from the process. 85 Malcolm Glazer's age when he died in May 2014, leaving his six children as co-owners of the club. It emerged a year later that they would be paid more than £15m a year by the club. 20 Number of teams in April 2021's proposed European Super League of which Joel Glazer was a prime force. The idea was swiftly killed after an intense supporter backlash. £5bn Estimated value of United when the Glazer siblings announced a potential sale of the club in November 2022. 28.94% Sir Jim Ratcliffe's minority holding as of last December after the Glazers sold part of their holding to the British billionaire. £1bn-plus United's current debt, incorporating Glazer's initial £790m leveraged buyout, plus an additional £300m in outstanding transfer fees, with a £300m loss recorded in the past three years. 2.4bn Approximate amount, in Euros, United have spent on signings since Glazer's purchase, according to 813.8m Approximate amount, in Euros, United have received in sales since Glazer's purchase, according to 13 Premier League titles won by Sir Alex Ferguson, the last of which was secured in May 2013, just before his retirement from management. 0 Premier League titles won by United's various managers in the proceeding 12 years. 16 United's current position in the Premier League. They were third when Glazer took over 20 years ago.
BBC News
29-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'This league has become a completely different animal'
Ipswich Town will be playing Championship football again next season. While the full-time whistle on Saturday delivered the official confirmation, in reality the fanbase have been expecting and preparing for this moment for the last few is the fourth relegation I have experienced as a Town fan, along with 1995, 2002 and 2019, and although failing to survive this season is disappointing, this time around the feeling, for me, is very chants at the full-time whistle from the away end made it clear to the players and management that we are proud of their efforts this season. There was no outpouring of negativity, no tears, only support. The game against Newcastle was a microcosm of our season with an encouraging start and signs of competitiveness before two arguable decisions from the officials ended the game as a spectacle. This league has become a completely different animal from the one we last left 23 years ago, both on and off the Premier League is a phenomenon. A global brand celebrated for the product it delivers to watching audiences, who in turn reward it handsomely - enabling the participants to grow stronger and stronger. However for the second season in a row the three promoted clubs have returned straight back to the Championship. Promotion and relegation, reward and jeopardy are crucial to the structure of the English game and yet there has never been less risk for the established Premier League years ago this month fans were seen protesting outside stadiums of the 'big six' clubs against the European Super League format. The planned breakaway was soon shelved as the lack of relegation was thought to remove all competitiveness from the proposal. Given the same 17 clubs will be participating in the Premier League for a third consecutive season in 2025-26, I fear the Super League may now exist in all but more from Seb Brown at the Blue Monday Podcast, external
