You referring to what’s written in the rules or the way the delegates want to interpret what’s not written in the rules?
CONCACAF Europa League?
- Thread starter Kjbert
- Start date
How the delegates write the rules of how their teams qualify vs how the organization that runs the competition (mis)interprets the rules.
So are we in or not?
TBD
TTYS
asia as well....still, i dont know if we want this....we can barely fill out CCL why do this. Unless the concacaf league is the "europa league" but that does not include US/ mex/ Canada teams
What do you mean we can barely fill out CCL?
every year we have national federations losing or giving their spot to another federation: guatemala suspended so their spot given to honduras/ costa rica, belieze had their spot given to other countries many times. until recently nicaragua spots were also given away or their one team had to play in other stadiums since they did not have an adequate stadium.
Caribbean teams still struggle to get a home for their games that is up to concacaf "standards" imagine if another 16 or so teams qualify for this "secondary" tournament some team may withdraw.
i still think the focus should be on the CCL first then figure out what to do next, but its still long way to go. also if this is just a liga mx/ MLS "superliga" then why call it a "regional tournament"
The FA Cup's allure fading had nothing to do with the improved convenience of international travel. It was entirely a function of how much money was involved in each competition.
Back when there was little to no prize money for any competition the FA Cup was the big one everyone wanted because A) it had history, therefore prestige, B) it was a "pure" knockout, allowing teams to come from nowhere to win and claim to be the best in England and C) FA Cup matches got far better TV coverage than anything else, so everyone was watching. It also helped that for decades it was basically the only club match in world sports which got worldwide TV broadcasting, even to Soviet countries (which is why English clubs interviewing new signings often make them to talk about how they grew up as children wanting to win the FA Cup).
When the PL was created, it completely changed the balance of competitions in England. Suddenly the league was a big source of revenue, and the prestige and romance of the cup began to seem less important to managers and to club owners than the money lost by not focusing on the league. At the same time, the CL started increasing its own prize money and the end result, again, was teams being increasingly willing to play weakened teams in the FA Cup and throw away their chance in exchange for an easier fixture schedule, allowing them to do better in the more important competitions. This is also why the EFL Cup comes a poor 4th to English clubs - because it is by far the least financially rewarding competition. It's also why most European clubs see the CL as the be-all and end-all of competition, yet why English clubs tend to be less concerned with failure in Europe so long as their domestic form is good - because only in England does league success have higher payouts than winning the CL.
Anyway, tl;dr - the reason cups become more or less successful is entirely based on the prize money. Fans can't stay interested in a competition the clubs they support show disdain to.
Last edited:
Well that was comprehensive. Not only did you crush my auxiliary argument, you also cleaned up all the crumbs. Serves me right for being sloppy with an unnecessary detail
It wasn't really the crux of the broader argument, though, which was about whether it made more sense to put the might of USM behind an international club competition or to boost domestic inter-divisional competition. Do you really think that if prize money was equal the FA Cup would hold a candle to CL? Ultimately I think the spectacle of having more (many more) fans co-interested and the quality of the teams involved are bigger factors. Not to mention, the main reasons they're able to offer a bigger pot.
Last edited:
Well that was comprehensive. Not only did you crush my auxiliary argument, you also cleaned up all the crumbs. Serves me right for being sloppy with an unnecessary detail
It wasn't really the crux of the broader argument, though, which was about whether it made more sense to put the might of USM behind an international club competition or to boost domestic inter-divisional competition. Do you really think that if prize money was equal the FA Cup would hold a candle to CL? Ultimately I think the spectacle of having more (many more) fans co-interested and the quality of the teams involved are bigger factors. Not to mention, the main reasons they're able to offer a bigger pot.
Yeah, writing short posts when I'm trying to argue a point is...not something I find easy - even if the point itself is quite straightforward. It's something I've long been criticised for, but it's kind of a part of me now, so...eh.
Anyway, to answer your question - heck yes, if the FA Cup carried CL-level prize money then it would hold a candle to the CL. In fact I would go so far as to say that it would not be far behind the PL in international viewership and glamour. Reason being, unlike the PL, where relegated teams still get 2/3rds of what even the Champions get in prize money, in the FA Cup if you fall at the first hurdle you get nothing.
On top of that, remembering that that prize money is available to all 750+ entrants, you'd see every single team going hell-for-leather in every single match, because the financial penalty for not doing so would be too great to countenance. Remember that, unlike the CL, there are no two-legged ties or group stages and you can be eliminated after any single match, so there'd be no easing off the gas because of having already made qualification almost certain in a previous game..
The only time it would seem like a distraction then is towards the latter stages, for any team still fighting on, say, three fronts and facing fixture pile-up, but even then the standard of opposition (i.e. just about any tie is going to seem easier than being drawn against Barca or Real) would mean a lot of incentive to focus on the FA Cup. It would be a big dilemma for the managers.
So yeah, the clubs would be all over the competition and consequently matches would be terrific for the fans, which in turn would drive interest and TV viewership through the roof.
Last edited:
As an aside, the FA Cup is still (potentially) a huge deal for lower-league teams because the gate receipt cut they get from, say, playing an away game at the Etihad or Emirates or Stamford Bridge or any PL stadium might exceed their normal operating budget for an entire season.
OK I can agree with your more-literal interpretation of "hold a candle"
I guess a better comparison, bringing it back to the OP / original argument, would be FA Cup vs. Europa League.
Sounds like Europa League winners make ~13.8 million pounds, while FA cup winners make 1.8 million pounds (AKA the amount of money Alexis Sanchez makes in a month).
So I could imagine that the FA cup would eclipse Europa League with the right prize money. I don't know if that transfers well to US Open Cup vs. CONCACAF second-tier league though, since part of that is that the big English teams are some of the most well-followed in the world, which is not true of MLS teams vs. their CONCACAF (particularly Liga MX) counterparts.
OK I can agree with your more-literal interpretation of "hold a candle"
I guess a better comparison, bringing it back to the OP / original argument, would be FA Cup vs. Europa League.
Sounds like Europa League winners make ~13.8 million pounds, while FA cup winners make 1.8 million pounds (AKA the amount of money Alexis Sanchez makes in a month).
So I could imagine that the FA cup would eclipse Europa League with the right prize money. I don't know if that transfers well to US Open Cup vs. CONCACAF second-tier league though, since part of that is that the big English teams are some of the most well-followed in the world, which is not true of MLS teams vs. their CONCACAF (particularly Liga MX) counterparts.
Need TV $ to increase prize $.
Need interest to increase TV $.
Need Prize $ to increase interest.
Need TV $...
Oh darn.
Similar threads
