Greed is Breaking Football’s Heart

If you have not heard, there are twelve teams that have decided to start their own midweek European Super League (ESL). Of the twelve, six are English clubs. Ever since I was eight years old, I have been a fan of the Premier League. I’ve grown up in the culture of the Premier League from afar. I’ve always felt kinship with England, and with the news of the ESL, I feel as though I’ve been attacked like all the other fans. As an American, I’ve been waiting for the day that Major League Soccer (MLS) would see the error in their ways and build a promotion and relegation league. I always thought that the culture of football would force their hand. It hurts to say. I was foolish! The owners of the MLS want guaranteed money. They will never allow a league where their team could get relegated and lose them tons of money. Many of them own National Football League (NFL) teams. Their strength comes from the fact that they are an exclusive club of owners who can’t lose. My heart is heavy with the thought that greed is going to break apart the very fabric and culture of the game I love. And I hope that we can use a little capitalism to fight back.

As expected, the reaction since Sunday’s news has been strong. All of the governing bodies seem to be in agreement that punishments will reign down upon these teams. Pundits have gone on record saying they want all the fans to band together. Some want fans, managers, and players to boycott. There have even been discussions of pulling money from the six Premier League teams and taking points away from them. All of these measures are perfectly fine with me, but I feel like they are missing out on another opportunity.

The ESL is a brazen act of building an oligopoly. I’m certain the owners have taken a look at how lucrative the NFL is, and they want the same for themselves. But there is one thing that no NFL team has ever done. No NFL team has ever sold stock! The closest thing is the Green Bay Packers, but they don’t sell stock on a public market. However, Manchester United does! I can’t say whether Manchester United will be impacted by their stock dropping, but I definitely believe it will send a message. If you are a football fan and you want to send a message through the mechanism of capitalism, you can voice your displeasure with the stock ticker symbol MANU.

Obviously, I’m no financial advisor. I have no idea how much money you could lose trying to send such a message, and I’m not trying to manipulate markets. I‘m just a football fan who is looking for anyway possible to voice my displeasure at the notion that the ESL is about anything other than greed. Greed that will destroy the game. This is the world’s game, and this is culturally a step too far. An oligopoly might work inside of one country where the culture has given up on real meritocracy. But, can it work on a global culture? My hope is no!

#irreverentnoise #sellMANU