I wasn't expecting to see this on HN, but if you read Big by Matt Stoller this is the kind of thing he might write about, and that's a frequent HN topic. The E

I wasn't expecting to see this on HN, but if you read Big by Matt Stoller this is the kind of thing he might write about, and that's a frequent HN topic. The ESL proposal sounds like something that an American guy like Joel Glazer, a guy who admitted to not understanding the offside rule, might come up with. I don't want to make it about Americans and how they don't understand football, because they're making good progress over there and a lot of them do get it. How they got Agnelli, a guy who as the heir to Fiat and Juventus on board, is a mystery to me. If you grow up in that family you have no excuse. The thing with American sports is the leagues are closed shops. Even baseball, with its extensive farm system, doesn't have promotion and relegation between weaker and stronger leagues. Rich guys buy a franchise, and the business pays some pros to swing a bat or throw an oval ball, etc. That's the "club". In Europe, there are a couple of thing to note. In principle, you can find 20 mates and found a club at the bottom of the pyramid. If you somehow stay fit and play better than the other teams in your league, you can in principle be playing in the Premier league (in like 12 years or something crazy), and from there qualify for Europe and even the Club World Cup (which isn't nearly as big at the World Cup). That's a principle: however lopsided your financial advantages are, you still have to beat enough opponents to stay in the league that you're in. And if you're a Leeds fan you will know what risk is: they had an amazing team 20 years ago but it all unraveled, they had to sell players, got dropped down the pyramid, and lots of pain. They just got back and they hate the ESL idea. There's also the fact that clubs aren't just the professionals. For instance there are a load of youth teams at various age groups, there's women's teams, and there's even teams for old people. All playing in the same uniform. There are actual grass roots, who get paid next to nothing, yet they go and put out cones for the kids, they stand outside the stadium selling matchday leaflets, they clean stuff. I'm watching from the other side of the pond, but the closest I could get to this was the Green Bay fans clearing snow every winter at Lambeau. Of course it makes sense to the bean counters. You make a closed league to limit risk. You get JPM to front you some money so all the clubs can buy the best players. You sell the TV rights. With some luck, the chumps will pay for it. What's missing is that people really, really care about how football works in this world. It isn't just about getting the 22 best guys on the pitch. Whatever you think about billionaires using the clubs as their playground, most fans see the billionaire era as another chapter in the story of their club. Each club is a story, and amazingly, winning is not all that matters. Most clubs have never won diddly squat. But people get on a bus to sing songs because they want to watch a story. My best stories about following my team are never about winning. It's about being part of a community.