Teams like PSG and Bayern have the most to gain from this, as their league seasons are basically over before they start, but I see no reason to reward teams like MU for playing like shit.
I think the teams like MU, and basically all the Big English teams, gain the most from this, as it insulates them from the negative effects of a down year in ways that Bayern and PSG don't have to worry about for now. If the French and German leagues ever get their TV money up to PL levels that could change. But for now this is life-saving insulation for MU, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Don't get me wrong, I do like watching the BPL and the pro/rel fight makes watching the bottom teams entertaining and dramatic. And I really do like seeing what Leicester is doing this year. But what is happening this year seems to be an anomaly.
Yeah but it's been trending this way in the PL and will only get worse I think. Once MC turned the top 4 into a Top 5, it guaranteed that one of those top teams would miss CL every year, which has hurt them, probably Liverpool the most. But they all have to worry now about not making CL in a way that had gotten used to not worrying for 8-10 years. In the other direction, massive PL TV money has narrowed the gap between the top and the rest in the PL in ways that hasn't happened in the rest of Europe. With the Spurs new stadium and NFL deal, they're on the verge of maybe breaking through in a big way. Freeze them out now before they take hold and make it a Big 6.
I read it as ditching Champions League only, to create a European super league with fixed members. I don't see a reason this plan would require them leaving their domestic leagues...
You're probably right, but I'm intrigued, especially in England, about the power shift this potentially creates in the PL. Right now the majority 15 PL teams could theoretically vote to reduce the TV take of the Big 5. They don't because they need the Big 5, and the Big 5 could threaten to, oh, maybe help create and join a European Super League, and pull up the ladders that would allow anyone else to climb up. If the Big 5 go ahead and do that, but remain in the PL, their only remaining threat is to leave the PL altogether. But here's the thing, because they stayed, they signal that they think they need the PL, probably for the reasons I mentioned above. Now there's a potential power shift, if the remaining PL teams have the nerve to play chicken. Vote to split the PL TV money in a way that freezes the Big 5 out of the major share. Instead of dividing money based purely on league finish, maybe make it that teams that qualify and go to CL get the most, then Europa teams, then anyone else who was CL eligible, then the league minimum goes to teams that dropped out of the CL competition. So if you finish first or second but have abandoned the CL, you might as well have finished 15th as far as the TV money is divided. The Big 5 can threaten to leave if the other teams do this, but they probably cannot actually follow through with that threat right now. Playing only in the trans-Europe Super League just won't generate enough games for them. If I owned the Spurs, or Everton, or Southhampton, etc, I'd be calling meetings to game plan this right now.
