Man City Wins Their Case Against The Premier League And The Sport Might Never Be The Same

This could be BAD news for the EPL, EFL, and the entire sport because if this position holds it basically means that the entire pyramid of promotion and relegation is going to come to a halt and the sport will move to a super league because it's open season on spending. 

The rule that was challenged was about associated spending. It was previously forbidden basically to prevent the ever growing gap between rich and poor. There's always been rich and poor teams in professional soccer. This ruling makes the gap impossible to close. It ends any sort of parity because whole ass countries own premier league teams. Saudi Arabia bought Newcastle with their sovereign wealth fund. Now, this ruling effectively says that Saudi Arabia can use WILDLY inflated sponsorships for companies or agencies that they also own and be clear of any financial guard rails in place. Newcastle or Manchester City or whoever can say they want to slap "visit Saudi Arabia" on the front of their shirt and value that sponsorship at $6 Billion if they see fit. They don't care about getting value for their dollars on sponsorship like anyone else because they're an entire fucking country sitting on a trillion dollars of oil. So that, in effect, changes the entire landscape. If you're not owned by a country who doesn't case about blowing money on sports then you're fucked. That goes for basically every club except for Newcastle and Manchester City at this point. Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester United won't be able to match that level of spending. And if those giants can't keep up you can forget about clubs like Aston Villa, West Ham, etc. unless they sell to China or India or Qatar or Norway's fund buys them. It's not right. 

You'd think these leagues would look to the NFL. The most success league with the most parity as a model, but nope. The only thing that moves the needle is money. Doesn't matter how well you scout, how great your coaching is, or how ravenous your fan base is. If you want to win, you need oil money. That, in my opinion, sucks for the game as a whole in the long run. 

Supposedly the Premier League thinks they can still win the other charges against Manchester City. Perhaps the worst case scenario won't happen, but it's hard to imagine the sport without any guardrails against Saudis or Qataris changing the financial landscape of the sport with this ruling.

Recapping the entire weekend of footy with the fellas below. I think this show is fun. Check it out.