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[ForTheKids]

Good article on the EPL's foreign investors' interest in protecting their franchise investments.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3877911/Ian-Wright-Football-will-die-if-foreign-owners-get-their-own-way.html

Anyone see any parallels? 

[Redkard]

PDL, what is now the RCL?

[tripleplay]

Good article on the EPL's foreign investors' interest in protecting their franchise investments.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3877911/Ian-Wright-Football-will-die-if-foreign-owners-get-their-own-way.html

Anyone see any parallels? 

Ever heard of the NFL, MLS, NBA, MLB, NHL, the PACx, etc?

[EWSoccer64]

TP comes out and admits it.  His beloved big clubs believe themselves to be franchises whose owners (DOCs) have the right to limit competition.

[tripleplay]

TP comes out and admits it.  His beloved big clubs believe themselves to be franchises whose owners (DOCs) have the right to limit competition.

Mmm .. no. I was pointing out that many sports leagues don't use a relegation model, and appear to do just fine. Soccer started as a grassroots sport, played locally. It has evolved into an  international and primarily media driven activity, which boosts the top tier at the expense of other levels. The promotion/relegation model is based on having multiple thriving levels, and is becoming obsolete. Not saying I even like it, let alone love it, but that's the reality.

[EWSoccer64]

Mmm... Yes.
And your lack of experience shows in that you think of the EPL through US professional non-soccer myopia. 

Further, your knowledge of the growth of soccer is telling in that you fail to understand that soccer was spread globally as an adult sport, not a youth one.

And soccer, where it is important and big, uses relegation/promotion and always has.  Very successfully.   It rewards actual results, not the opinions of DoCs.

[tripleplay]

Promotion/relegation is on the way out in professional soccer, though it may take a while. It's not just the EPL. Many discussions of super leagues etc. which would have permanent members. It doesn't really make sense to make a multi-million dollar business and people's livelihoods depedent on the results of a game. Microsoft is not going to decide which products to sell by having its divisions play a cricket tournament against each other with the loser's product discontinued (and revenues going to a competing company). Leagues do change over time (Seattle loses an NBA team, Oklahoma gains one) but not based on something so irrelevant as basketball scores.

[Bathos]

Yet another reason why the Bundesliga is vastly more entertaining and fun than the EPL.  Ending promotion/relegation will just hasten the financial collapse of the EPL.

[tripleplay]

Yet another reason why the Bundesliga is vastly more entertaining and fun than the EPL.  Ending promotion/relegation will just hasten the financial collapse of the EPL.

EPL still has relegation but the problem is that the next tier is so far behind that promoted teams aren't generally competitive. It's a world-wide phenomenon. The middle tiers are suffering and the gap between the middle and the top is growing. I think that is ultimately the big problem for the MLS expanding beyond a niche market. It looks like the minor leagues because on the next channel over I can see the world's best players. Not too many years ago, that wouldn't have been the case. Worldwide there were fierce local rivalries which you attended in person or were covered by local media, and there wasn't much attention paid to far away soccer until things like the World Cup. Now, a ManU fan is just as likely to be an accountant in Delhi as someone whose grandfather was a rabid fan.

[metz123]

The problem with ending relegation is that it makes a majority of the late season games between the bottom half of the league meaningless. The bottom tier teams get a significant amount of revenue from the relegation battle. Without relegation in the mix, games between bolton and swansea stop drawing fans and are played to half empty stadiums. Owners of these clubs have already gone on record stating that they do not want to do away with relegation, even if it means their own teams move down.

I expect you'll see the rise of the super champions league before you see the end of relegation. The European permanent champions league for the super rich clubs with 10-12 permanent members and 8 or so qualifiers each year. These teams would engage in domestic cups (for development purposes) and super league play only.

[tripleplay]

metz has basically hit on the head what EPL relegation really has become - namely a gimmick to drum up business for a handful of clubs that regularly bounce up and down, without ever contending.  Not clear that there aren't other gimmicks that would be just as successful at achieving the same objective. But relegation has a lot of history and European soccer is nothing if not traditional, so I don't think relegation will disappear easily. But I predict that eventually the American model (business factors, not games, affecting business) will win out.

[footiefan]

I'd be really surprised to see this happen in the next 10 years.  Beyond that, who knows?
More likely is an effort for a European Wide League, with relagation to the national leagues.

The top of the premier league has been stable for a number of years, but this is not the case for the Bundesliga or the French Ligue1.  In the Bundesliga, Gladbach is currently near the top, but it has been in and out of league 2 for a decade.  In France, Lille (a relatively small city) won ligue 1 last year.  Even in England, 2nd division play has its own fan base and promotion and relegation are not just marketing gimmicks but part of the excitement of 2nd division play.  Support for the local teams is great fun in markets that have 30+ teams (div. 1 and div. 2) in an area smaller than California. 

Really hope we dont' see the Franchise model take root in European leagues.  It would change the nature of the clubs which have teams from U-9 to professional teams.  You would also never see the movement of teams like Hoffenheim and Gladbach to top division play.

[tripleplay]

Really hope we dont' see the Franchise model take root in European leagues.  It would change the nature of the clubs which have teams from U-9 to professional teams.  You would also never see the movement of teams like Hoffenheim and Gladbach to top division play.

Think you have cause and effect reversed. It's the decline of the middle tiers that will lead to the franchise model.