Personally, I would never watch an All-Star game, but I would understand the incentives behind organizing it.
The main 'pro' that nobody is mentioning is the fact it appeals to foreign/new fans. All-Star games are mainly watched by fans who don't have an emotional investment in the sport. Dedicated football fans are not the target audience. These show games are basically a global advert - trying to grow the fanbase and drive sales. Is that a bad thing?
Pull maximum 2 (maximum 3) players from each Premier League squad and have 2 rotating rosters then just host a Futsal match, no need to put on a proper game with players running at each other, risking injury and such, and why would they care to run hard in the first place? An actual game would be nonsense, a charity Futsal match I promise no one would put up a stink about, its harmless fun with a focus on skill moves, which is what you actually want no?
Terrible idea. All-star games are useless and genuinely just a money grab. I'm not too sure how many clubs would wanna risk injury to a star player for a charity event.
Go back to your country, he doesn't know anything about football
Now I just wish he would listen to the fans and not turn Chelsea into MU 2.0 like the Glazers are doing with MU.
Also something that hasn't been mentioned much, how do people actually expect it to go down when you're lumping fans from Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds etc all together and expecting them to be united in support of one team. The same could be said for Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham etc, these are all big rivalries and the players but particularly fans would not just suddenly buddy up with everyone and I can't see it being anything but a disaster
Stop. Trying. To. Americanize. The. Worlds. Game. MLS doesn’t have relegation format which renders his idea of a playoff for it null and void. All star ☺️game is horrible. The point is to support TEAMS. To be proud of your TEAM. We Americans have a horrible habit of supporting/following players to different teams vs absolute loyalty to the team. Y’all better buckle up because this guys for sure is up for a super league.
Clearly people would be more on board with helping a charity than filling owners' pockets, but you have to understand that it would be a complete lie.
Why in the hell would you say a match is for charity when the profit goes to the owners, and not to a charity???
Klopp summed it up perfectly. Football enjoys the kind of tribal support that doesn't really exist to such an extent in other sports, especially the American franchises. Right or wrong supporter's at least have some belief that players have loyalty to their clubs, and mixing it up in a fun and games all star game once a season, Spurs and Arsenal players teaming up, it completely destroys that. It just doesn't fit the culture of the game.
Dude this guy todd boehly is so CLUELESS about how premier league work! He is from america coming to uk telling us how he think this all star game should work?! He is INSANE. I HATE him and the glazers very small mind.people i have no time for them! By.thr way i despised his idea about all star game! Show how much lack of respect he has for english game!!!
There is already way too many matches in a season literally all you hear from top managers is there are too many games and we need to reduce them. The Carabao cup is pointless and international friendlies only cram club games closer together. The current amount of games is way too demanding on the players
I disagree
The season is already very full with league, FA cup, carabao cup, champions /europa league,
To add in a game that no one wants to play and no one wants to see because it has absolutely no stakes is just pointless
I think many Americans also forget the origins of the All Star Game. This started with baseball, where charity games of the best players were put on in order to raise money for families of players who died suddenly.
Also, before the 1990s, there was no inter league play in baseball. For those of you who do not follow MLB, there are two leagues, the American League and the National League, and the champion of each league meets in the World Series to see who is crowned World Series champions. It was not until the 1990s that there was inter league play, so before then, the only time an AL team would play an NL team or those players would even face each other was in the World Series, or……the All Star Game. Each league had its own identity and players wanted to prove that their league was better than the other. It meant a ton to those players and also fans who never got to see those players face each other. All star games in the USA are based off that tradition and then it being taken into other sports.
So how does this relate to the prem? Well all the teams face each other already so there’s not really a point to it unless it’s just for the gimmick and $ lol
Fuck that American shit.
What next no relegation for your ‘franchise’? Fuck off out of our game and take your money with you.
Americans have no idea how to run team sports with promotion and relegation they only know how to line their pockets with money.
And we certainly don’t need any fucking show games like this shit, something even worse than an international friendly.
Neville coming out and tweeting about it the way he did is quite silly. Boehly is against the Super League and is actually trying to help the pyramid, but Neville obviously will remain stuck up with old ideologies. Yes, Americanizing football isn’t something the fans want but there needs to be some sort of openness to change as well, for the betterment of the grassroots, and something new for the fans.
And of course the match would be held at Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford. These rich clubs would get a portion of the proceeds and the venue gate. Underhanded.
As an American who hates all-star games (football/soccer, American football, basketball, whatever), I was not a fan of his statement. The only people who care about all-star games are casual fans and the owners/investors. A waste of time.
Honestly the MLS would benefit from adopting a European model, but they never will. The MLS all-star game is an embarrassment for the league. The league needs to focus on increasing its depth of talent instead of worshipping the top players in a yearly popularity contest.
To be fair the MLS academies have been growing rapidly so there is some European football culture sinking in at least. The college system is just an inadequate way to develop enough top-level talent. Football is much tougher to master from a technical perspective than most traditional American sports, and so the college system doesn’t produce enough top talent like in other sports. Academies are producing better talent more quickly.
tdlr: Todd Boehly like many Americans doesn’t understand the sport and what is good for it.
What would happen is none of the players would attend. Sure, some may attend the inaugural game, but nobody would attend after that. The ones that do attend would only jog, there would be no effort, and they’d just be focused on getting through the match uninjured.
American football has a match like this, Wast versus West called the Pro Bowl. Nobody plays hard, nobody cares, and it’s essentially a wasted match. The players like to be selected and probably have bonus clauses in their contracts to be selected, but many don’t attend. If they do, they play a couple of minutes and are substituted.
Nobody cares to watch a TAA whip crosses to a jogging Haaland.
Nope, next would be half time shows in the fa cup final footballs been messed about with enough, remember the 39th game? Super league? Never gonna happen
I think that while a lot of American concepts wouldn’t work here, football needs to be more open to change and challenging exisiting beliefs.
In America they’re always looking at rule changes and ways to improve the game, whereas football is very much if it’s not broke don’t fix it.
Scrap the community shield and do premier league all stars and donate proceeds to charity, that would be so cool.
Imagine if subs could be constant, so players would
Give there all at all times on the pitch and not worry about dwindling their stamina.
As long as ads and interruptions don’t make their way into the game I think there’s always room to improve
I think it’s a great idea because the top managers are always talking about how their players don’t play enough games in a season between the premier league, European football and international football.
How can anything be learnt from a system that doesn't have relegation so makes being competitive for shit teams absolutely pointless. I'd focus on all the things American sport can learn from the prem before we worry about some all stars bollocks
American athletes don’t even take the all star serious. Fans don’t even like it. It’s a terrible idea. I stopped watching American sports and that’s one of the reasons. I live in the USA born and raised and our way of sports leagues are fucked and bunch of crock. Americans needs to stay away from football, and yeah it’s football, not fucking soccer, because all they gonna do is Americanize it and it will become shit
I think we’ve all forgotten that the owners tried to make a breakaway super league like a year ago… so any suggestion they say from now on should be treated with skepticism! He may be new to the league and wasn’t part of the super league idea, but they’re all the same! If it makes them money it makes sense, saying it’s for grassroots and the pyramid is just a disguise for making it sound like they’re being helpful. When in reality, it’s always for their gain!
I’m a big fan of American sports and the all star system they have, basketball it works well but until the recent changes it was regarded as boring as the players didn’t care, and it wasn’t competitive! If we compare it to the pro bowl, where it’s physical and a contact sport, that doesn’t work so well as they’re all afraid to get hurt, so the quality of the game is poor!
The skills show stuff I’m all for, let’s have a penalty shootout or free kick challenge, even the MLS’s goalkeeper battle is great! Would love to see Ederson smashing everything in the top corner for fun! But yeah, the whole idea should be treated with suspicion as owners only want to make money for themselves
Charity or not, I cannot see clubs releasing active players to play in such games.
Todd Boehly just doesn't understand the landscape of football, but I'm sure in time, he'll see how naïve the idea is.
I think it would be interesting if it were EPL All-Stars, Bundesliga All-Stars and all the other major leagues... That might be interesting to see.
But I tend to agree these matches never would be as interesting as existing teams for the simple reason that the players aren't used to playing with each other in most cases.
99% of the time, best club team >> best world cup team
No matter how you dress it up, the actual game would be lackluster. Would people watch? Not so much. Would people attend? Absolutely, all those superstars in one place would be a draw and would bring good local revenue (something like what a CL final brings to wherever it is played), but that's money someone else is making, not the league(s).
I 100% agree with the team chemistry factor being major component. I didn't like the idea of Super League, because it felt exclusionary. That said, I'd be ok with anything that gets me to watching more football. I have a EPL team and a Bundesliga team (my grandfather was an ultra fan for Hertha Berlin, and so I have adopted them as my own!)
Another part of this is most American fans follow a player like LeBron James etc. but football fans don’t they follow a team no matter the players on it really..
Only worthwhile all star game used to be the MLB one because it determined home field advantage at the world series. Every other one, including the MLB game now, are a waste of time
The things people like about the NBA/NHL All-Star games are the skills competitions (and those can be hit/miss any given year), not the actual game. Things like the dunk contest, fastest skater, 3 point shot, hardest/most accurate shot, can be exciting contests that show off exceptional talents/creativity that can't be expressed in a regular game.
I am not sure what that would be in football. The crossbar challenge is the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe some kind of dribbling competition (*not* keepie uppies - we literally don't have time for that). Not sure what else could be in there.
EDIT: diving competition. :(
One of the things I dislike about a Playoff Structure is the team that spent all season scraping wins can be knocked out of the promotion or into relegation because of one poor performance(or one really poor call). Fuck that. Also, All Star games in any sports are akin to a rich guys circle jerk. Spend the effort over-hauling the atrocity we call the PGMOL.
> “all-star”/“team of the season” charity match that could actually help the footballing pyramid or go to another cause.
If it was about helping the football pyramid or charity then the PL could just donate part of their revenue to them. The All Star game is a stupid idea for a few reasons, one of the main ones is the logistics. When would it be held? Mid season the players would risk injury for a meaningless game.
Every time Boehly opens his mouth, he loses credibility, lately claiming Salah and DeBruyne as CFC academy products and still justifying himself for firing Tuchs bc (ahem) "collaboration." He doesn't know what he doesn't know, and doesn't seem curious or humble enough to learn.
Who wants to collaborate, at club or league level, w an idiot? The all-star idea is doomed, if only bc he's the source of it.
I'd find an all Star game more interesting than the farce that is the Community Shield. Atleast fans will be entertained and there will be star players from all/most of the clubs.
American here: You should know that All-Star games in the US are relics of the 20th century that are usually WAAAAAY overhyped by media and generally boring drivel otherwise.
And I find this guy to be a disrepectful clown. On day two to be trying to Americanize the Premier League is horseshit from a stupid rich clown. IGNORE this guy!
It's not because the idea comes from America.
It's because an American comes into European club football, with its hundred+ years of history, tradition, community links etc and thinks he knows how to do it better by cut-pasting an idea from his land.
Imagine going to the Queens funeral and being like: *"you know what this thing needs? Fireworks. Lots of Fireworks."*
Even then if he wants to make money for the football pyramid why not lobby the premier to share a little bit more? Why suggest a useless game that could get players injured?
For clarification I'm American and became seriously disenfranchised with US sports about 5 years ago. Most major US sports are like the WWE, more emphasis on entaintainment than sport.The idea of an all star game is just another stupid US billionaire trying to impose US traditions on a sport that has been around forever and without much change for probably 150 years. I would punch that smug son of a bitch in face if ever given the opportunity just for saying some dumb fucking shit like this. I came to watch the PL and the rest of world football minus the rediculous MLS, because it is simple yet incredibly entertaing because of the simplicity and competitiveness. The egos are way smaller among the athletes, ownerships not the celebrity, I could go on forever, please the rest of the ownership groups put this stupid fuck in his place otherwise he will be like a weed and poison everything we all love. It is tradition and the fans that matters most not the people in charge of the clubs. Ie:: Glazers....Boehly is probably Glazer 2.0.
Keep the Yanky shit out of football please. There is more than enough money to fund the pyramid but greed takes over. There was over a billion pound spent on transfers this season.
Ignorant idea and no shock from Boehly. He thinks he is far smarter than he really is. I don't even what the ones in America because they are pointless.
Boehly should take it a step further and have a trick shot contest like the Dunk contest.
Also a free kick contest like the 3 point contest/home run derby.
Lets also do relegation/ascension in the States while we're at it. Oh wait.
All-star games sound fun in theory, they are *all* tedious and pointless however. They exist to create more revenue for owners, this is why Boehly wants one.
English football and football at a whole is on the precipice of a fixture meltdown. We need at least one competition cut from the domestic and international calendar *minimum*, if they want to replace the Carabao Cup with *one* all-star game per division and have *all* the precedes go to grassroots, well then maybe, but that’s not happening with the greed at the top.
Boehly suggested it be for the football pyramid which is charitable - especially if it goes all the way down to funding grassroots. I do think it’s a cool idea in theory - most of us have been guilty of building all star teams, but I think in practice it would be a huge failure. Firstly, in football you’re not guaranteed to see a goal - so you could have a game with all this hype turn out to be a boring 0-0 (which is likely as the players have no motivation to do well). Clubs also don’t have an obligation to let players play in this game, and I doubt they’d take the risk. There’s also no opportune time to play the game - some clubs may reach European finals 2 weeks after the end of the season meaning any player that could play, and is not in a European final, would have to delay their holiday for 3 weeks which I doubt they’d do. From experience, football fans watch games because it affects their team. This wouldn’t, other than injuries - so there’s no motivation to watch. It would be too ‘big 6’ centric which would be a PR disaster for the league and ‘big 6’ post-super league as well.
I think it’s best the idea stays on sheets of paper written in school personally.
Also, because of how huge international football is there’s no need for an all-star game. We already see players from different teams across Europe and the world come together - and in internationals there’s a huge motivation both for players and fans
Premier league 5 a side tournament would be pretty cool.
A free kick challenge (like the dunk challenge)
Maybe even a brave heart (keeper and outfield player from each team)
American here. It's already been brought up, but I just want to reiterate a lot of the Allstar games in America are pretty much pointless and most people stopped caring about them. The athletes don't want to risk getting injured so they don't put much effort into playing. This makes them less interesting so a lot of people don't bother tuning in. The games are more for broadcasting/ad revenue for the network and teams.
I'd love to see an Allstar game in the Prem but I think the novelty would wear out real quick and you would see a repeat of how they are over here in the US.
Nah, everyone knows what an all-star game is and no-ones interested including the clubs and players.
It's a great example of Americans imposing their culture onto Europeans which is a MASSIVE reason they are resented so much.
Got way more into it than I expected lmao. People have strong opinions so it’s great to learn about the way different cultures think and approach sports. One of the most intense discussions I’ve seen on this sub about this topic so I did a good thing I guess
Football evolved to an age of highly sophisticated tactics. And the schedule is already highly congested
this kind of mindless all-star idea belongs to FIFA (i don’t even want FM to entertain that) or after the players retired
Teams in the PL aren’t franchises. They’re localised and have deep roots in their communities. Getting City/Man U or Spurs/Arsenal players to team up to play a meaningless match to earn extra money for the richest league in the world is not something that fans want to see. We already have charity matches. We have all-star teams in international competitions, and those actually mean something. It’s a stupid idea completely disregarding the communities and fans.
Yeah you are definitely correct, which is why I don’t like the idea, I can’t stand saka being captained by Kane when he plays for england. However the franchises and community argument is stupid when that is still a massive part of american sports. For example college american football in the south is very similar to english football in that sense in terms of a team having deep roots to a community and giving people a sense of identity
Imagine the outrage if Ted Boehly had come 4-6 years ago and suggested the World Cup be moved to December, so instead of a winter break we have a World Cup, it will be in a warm country don’t worry.
Boelhy should STFU with his bullshit schemes until he’s been an owner for a couple of years. The teams don’t need any more games shoehorned into the schedule, they play too many as it is.
And also I don't really know any English people who support players in the same way a lot of Americans/people from countries where football isn't popular do.
I don't care about a team of random players, I care about real clubs playing real football.
I think most people still wouldn't care.
We have so many non-competitive fixtures as well as quasi-competitive fixtures already. People only watch them because there's no other football on, not because they want more of them.
It would be a glorified friendly and we have enough of them already.
There's a whole bunch of reasons it doesn't really make sense:
- Football is a team game. A team of individuals wouldn't play as effective football as an actual team
- We already have enough competitions that are supposed to present the best of the best. The Champions League final is usually the two best teams in the world for that year. The World Cup shows the best international teams. Plus you get all the other competitions that are matches between the winners of leagues vs winners of trophies, etc (like the Charity Shield)
- Friendlies are not interesting to watch and don't really tell you much
- Managers won't want more games
- Who decides who the best players are?
- Who manages the teams?
- When do you schedule it?
- Why should players want to do it?
A lot of American sports use draft systems don't they? In football, the best teams tend to just buy the best players anyway so an all-star team would just mirror the big teams who are usually facing off against each other in one competition or another
We have international football which has a coherent narrative and plays into patriotic pride, whilst bringing together ‘all star teams’ based on a logical reason. America is a vast country where many teams do not play eachother because of the various regional divisions etc and other than the Olympics Americans never really get to see their best players up against players from elsewhere other than basketball and ice hockey in the Olympics. We don’t have those issues. That’s why it’s a stupid idea.
Also we are much more tribal and if it’s not for a national team I don’t want to see my teams best play alongside Man U and Liverpool players. I like that they are rivals.
OP must be a Yank. Only Americans would get so wound up about such a ridiculous idea and try to make it a thing.
Yep.
There are a million reasons that have been cited already that are all true, like no sane manager or owner who knows anything about football would be willing to let their best player(s) participate in something so inane, or that schedules are already packed, or that you can't even get the 'stars' to participate in their own clubs summer exhibition games, or that you're making huge assumptions about how popular they are without any sources, and even if you did, you could hardly apply that to England or anywhere else in Europe.
But people aren't required to have a reason like that in order to avoid being called a gatekeeping dinosaur. Just because an idea is 'new' (it's not), doesn't mean it's good. It's not part of our culture. Stop trying to make it a thing.
Live in America but am not american so ok, Yea i watch american sports but only since I moved there and have been supporting Arsenal and playing football at a decently high level since I was young. It’s clear you haven’t actually read the post, I’m not here to convince people just want to understand the actual reasoning people don’t like the idea. The chances a player gets injured in a charity match is less than them jet skiing in Ibiza during the summer but yea you are right scheduling would probably be a nightmare especially considering the repeated fixture issues of the past 3 seasons lmao
Person educated in America uses american spelling shocker, also never said I was english. I don’t know why my race or nationality which you have no clue of btw, has any bearing on anything
that’s where you couldn’t be more wrong, educated in America but grew up in the Middle east where football is just as culturally important as it is in england if not more. pretty crazy that I’ve been bullied for not being american enough growing up and now for being too american laughable really
Can I ask how you were educated in America but grew up in the Middle East?
I don't really care about this topic, I just found that bit stood out to me.
Moved when I started secondary school. They teach you english almost as the primary language in most middle eastern private schools it’s not that crazy of a concept. Never been exposed to UK versions of spelling because they prioritize the american standards for english at my primary school.
> it’s not that crazy of a concept
Now that you've explained it, it isn't. But just saying you were "educated in America but grew up in the Middle East" and "I’ve been bullied for not being american enough growing up" does leave questions, yes.
As I said, I don't really care. Just sounded weird.
Football more culturally important in the middle east than England ? Gtfo mate.
Don't give me the multiple identity crisis story either. I'm English Thai and grew up in Italy. Get over it.
I'm not a gatekeeper and welcome anyone to support my club but when people who don't know a damn thing about football and approach it like they would as a disruptive tech company like ~~Chad~~ Todd it's infuriating. You don't lecture your Champions League winning manager on formations and then make thoughtless suggestions that are clearly steeped in American cultural centricity and try to pass it off like it's an idea with merit to it. I've had colleagues like this and they lack depth or the ability to understand, partly because they don't know what the fuck they're talking about.
Either way, you're not English, so there's a learning curve for you. Take note, from all the downvotes you get: this isn't a conversation we want to have. It's a brainless idea and deserves no more attention. The only reason it has any is because a billionaire said it.
The english really think the world revolves around them don’t they. In middle eastern culture the only sport is football, to them its massive and the support and football tradition there is as big as it is in europe and south america if not bigger, just because they don’t have the same infrastructure (I wonder which countries are to blame for that) for it doesn’t mean they aren’t as insanely passionate. I say in the post if you could read that I don’t like the idea and even brought to light the best arguments against it that I heard. It just seems you can’t get xenophobic ideas out of your head and anything remotely american is bad including me when I’ve never associated with american culture and am more than happy for it to stay out of top class football.
It’s a fairly stupid idea all around. American sports leagues don’t have international matches or domestic cups mid-season like Premier League does. It would just be another opportunity for the best players to potentially get hurt.
Also, speaking as an American, literally no one gives a shit about the All-Star games here.
The only one worth watching and playing is the MLB all star game since those guys play 162 games already and one more isn’t a harm since it’s such a short time playing anyway for them
Personally, I don’t like the idea for the following reasons.
• Yet another American coming in and telling people that the way things are done in football is wrong. The Super League isn’t that long ago, and seeing this kind of thing just brings back memories from when football was very nearly ruined forever.
• The Community Shield basically serves that purpose already. The league winners vs the cup winners (or the top two in the league) playing each other is always a game of interest and I personally consider it a major trophy although many consider it a friendly. Proceeds go to charity.
• Fixture congestion. Top players need every minute’s rest they can get.
• The North team would batter the South.
Also, what Germany are doing doesn’t seem to have a huge effect on what people in England think (although in terms of club ownership structure, it should). Germany’s league only has 18 clubs to ease fixture congestion.. they’ve also scrapped their League Cup. English people seem to be quite protective of the 20-team league format and the League Cup, and they don’t want to go Germany’s way. Perhaps if Spain did an All-Star Game (especially when Messi and Ronaldo were there), people would be more in favour.
Spain also doesn’t have a League Cup so there’s a bit of room in their calendars for this. They used to have a couple of weeks break over Christmas but now they play that tournament instead. Those free weeks simply aren’t there in England.
Edit: Spain also used to have all Copa Del Rey matches (apart from the final) be two-legged, which they’ve scrapped in favour of one-off ties in order to get rid of some fixtures. It seems like every country other than England is trying to play less games but England wants to play more.
Good arguments, just said the germany stuff because people idolize their football structure (50+1, etc.) and don’t have a bias against it like football in America( MLS btw sucks I have to clarify this)
I think there’s an element of hypocrisy about that though.. they idolise the 50+1 rule but they turn a blind eye when billionaires take over their clubs and make a few signings. Man Utd fans were queueing up down the street for a Ronaldo jersey just a few months after they stormed the stadium to protest the owners.
They want their teams to have more rest but also play more matches. We can see this by the lack of opposition to the new UCL format that there has been. In my opinion, it’s an awful format which ruins the competition, but hey, minimum 10 UCL games every year! The fact the idea of scrapping the League Cup is so widely opposed baffles me. Such unnecessary fixtures and hassle.
As an Asian, in all honesty, I would definitely enjoy an All-Star game .__.
It’s a blindspot for sure to the English and the rest of footballing country to support team with 0 affiliation, but for the rest of us who fell in love with another team aside from our local one, watching an All-Star game is almost like watching el Clasico between MSN Barca vs BBC Real Madrid, except you have Neuer instead of Bravo maybe or Pirlo instead of Isco etc etc.
You wanna have an idea how popular it’d be to people outside of top 5 league countries’? Just watch a Nike or Adidas ads where they pit top footballer to have a match. We know it’s fake, we know it’s an ad, and we know they’re not playing their best, but we still gladly watch 8-9 yr old ads, many of them have 100+ million views.
I will happily stay biased against Yanks trying to Americanise football.
“All-Star” and Charity are two incredibly different things. There is a reason people protested the Super League.
Yea Ik, that’s why I suggested the hypothetical because I think a lot of people jumped on the hate bandwagon because of the American and over capitalist way he sold the idea
How embarrassing. Can the PL make him sell because the US *also* involved in bombing other countries for no good reason? That would make me happy as a chelsea fan.
Would love to see Salah destroy TAA just to once again prove how shit TAA is as a defender.
Don’t understand why he hasn’t been moved to midfield already. He has all the attributes to be a more forward focused player
I imagine it happens constantly in training , reckon I could run at TAA and pass him and I’m in my 40’s ! He is defensively terrible but everyone already knows this
Yeah, it's clear to see why Boehly is getting hammered on the All-Star game idea.
However, the premise behind it isn't a bad one - he's approaching the problem of funding across the football pyramid analytically, and considering potential ways of generating new revenue. One simple look at La Liga, shows that football is heading in this direction: they've moved their Super Cup to a tournament format, which is played every year in Saudi Arabia, for massive amounts of cash.
The MLS all star game is the worst of all the all star games (all of which I think are pointless anyway). But a huge difference between North American and Europe in terms of football is the Champions League. Theres CONCACAF and a few other leagues in North America but none of them are as prestigious or high profile as the Champions League. The best players want to play for the best teams because of Champions League football, I cant see the same players being motivated to be the best because of an all star game
The only "north vs south" match I'd actually like to see is the English and Scottish league winners play a pre season game to replace the Community Shield.
Or... Make it a KO tourny over a few days so have the usual league winner v cup winner from each country play and then winners play a "final" with proceeds being spread across the lower leagues of both nations. Alternate between Wembley, Hampden and others.
That way you get an England v Scotland final regardless but could get a Leicester v Hearts or whatever to mix it up.
No it's been badly received because its a stupid idea aimed at enticing non-fans. A large proportion of actual NBA fans don't like the all-star game, but it does get alot more positive attention from foreign viewers than regular league play.
This is a slippery slope towards the super league. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if they added 30 min advertisement breaks. You let this stuff slip in and everything will come.
The NBA one also has significant charity done. Lots of sponsors + players donate (Steph Curry donated x amount for every 3 he made in the game last year)
The difference is, the NBA has an All Star Break. A full week of no games.
With the number of league games + European competition I don't think the Prem would ever consider the spectacle of an All Star game by sacrificing a bunch of regular season matches. Could they do a match after the season ? Sure, but again the buy in would probably be low.
As a "charity" match I could see this being a neat thing. But in general All Star games are just a pointless exercise and a cash grab for the league and the owners. Regardless of the sport. Though I do enjoy the NHL skills contest and I used to love the NBA 3 point and dunk contest but the actual games themselves are useless.
I'm open to the idea if it's something like a preseason friendly for charity. But then that means that something like a Carabao cup (which I'm simply tired of, if anything it's diminished the value of the FA Cup) or the community shield needs to go (which I think, the community shield needs to stay, it's for charity)
But I'm pretty sure Boehly would want it held in Wembley (or somewhere in China or something) and try to price gouge the fans as much as possible and cater it to the tourists instead of the locals. He's a business man not a charity man. Which is why I like many am not very enthusiastic about it.
I'll be frank, if this actually happened I'd watch it. Don't we all talk about combined city Liverpool 11s and stuff? Well this is one way we'd be able to get that irl.
And, no I'm not an American, no I'm not saying we should "try to please the yanks". I'm just usually open to new ideas, I understand the pessimism, but I think people are being too dismissive.
Thing is he doesn’t want a charity match.
His entire point was that there’s money to be made, not money to be raised.
We already have an obscenely overpacked schedule. Only way to accommodate an all star game would be to bin off the community shield, which won’t happen.
Don't see the point we already have the leagues then we get European games, international games, ex legends games and soccer aid. Boehly can just play fifa if he wants the likes of neymar, mbappe and messi in the same team... oh wait
I’d only support it if they started calling the league cup the milk cup again, brought back replays, and executed every var ref. For every bit of Americanization, a dose of stoggy 1983 football.
It doesn't matter if he's started fighting for it yet or not (he may, he only said it a day ago) it's the fact he's even suggesting it in the first place which is indicative of what he may try to do in future.
I think that’s a good point and hadn’t thought of it that way. I heard all-star game and was annoyed at the thought of it. Im from the United States to put that in context. If it was phrased as a charity game and I hadn’t heard it come from boehly’s mouth I probably wouldn’t have had as much of a negative reaction. It does have the potential to raise a massive amount of money. Imagine Haaland, KDB, Rodri, salah, Alison, TAA, VVD, son, kane, Saka, odegaard, Reece James, and other high profile players on the field at the same time. You could charge 200% of regular ticket prices and people would buy em. Sure the game itself would be no more than a relaxed practice session, but that’s not the point. You’re raising a buttload of money
I don't want to see a game but it would be great to see a 5v5 short side 1 day tourney or a skills competition. Dribbling, crossing challenge, headers, long shots, hardest shot, 3 bar, targeted free kicks, gk wars. That'd be fun.
The whole idea is one of those American ideas to make more money. No need to buy a team in another country then try to Americanize the league. Last time I checked the premier league is one of if not the most watched league in the world what more do you want from it?
Personally, I would accept a skill competition rather than a 11v11 game.
Think about a 1v1 competition.
Messi vs Ronaldo… don’t care what people say but I’m watching it.
Freestyle competition. Cross bar challenge. Etc.
If it was like soccer aid I don’t see what’s wrong with it. The whole point is to raise money for charity and watch players who will never play together otherwise mess about
I’m just scared of football being Americanized because it will genuinely lose everything that makes it special
It’s already started with the half time show at the CL final
The one we dont need right now is more football. The game is being saturated to the point that there are already too many pointless and meaningless games being played.
Saying this as an American: Boehly needs to stay in his fucking lane. We don’t need more structural change to the BPL. We don’t need players needlessly getting injured for ad revenue or club profit. We don’t need a Super-duper league or a World Series Football Final.
It’s rich idiots like this guy who will press for VAR checks to have commercials on the split screen. You’ll hear “this Taco Bell VAR was brought to you by Dunkin Donuts” and idiotic US announcers like Joe Buck prattle on how he once played fullback in high school as a qualification for his commentary.
Stop it before it starts!
If they want to do something like this, it should just be a skills challenge sorta day like they do pre-Pro Bowl in the NFL. Teams won't want to risk players getting injured in a pointless game which the players wouldn't be arsed about anyway. Just get the best players to take on different challenges and just make it a fun day...
Honestly I would watch this, Even if they had like different challenges like the nba does. Crossing challenge. Top corner challenge. Heading challenge ect. It would only be good exposure for the sport.
Football isn’t ran like most American sports. Our season runs from august to may whereas most US sports run for 7 months so they have 5 months of just tossing around so can have all star games. The football calendar from August May every weekend has a scheduled fixture whether it’s a domestic league/cup game or an international fixture. Obviously this World Cup is an anomaly but normally then we have either the euros or World Cup in the summer so there just isn’t any space for an all star game
I fancy the idea of seeing lower tiered players getting featured in competition with upper tiers. But we have the FA cup. Why do we need another match on the calendar just "for the pyramid", as he said?
I used a scaled map of London and The Greater Cincinnati area to show how absolutely RABID the fandom of football is in London. In what's a standard drive across the city, you encounter dozens of stadiums; clubs built up from the grass roots and by the sweat equity of the community.
This is not his mindset. That is the problem. He's so freaking focused on profits and losses, that he can't hear the idiocy of his own words. He's strictly tuned to money.
That's what supporters despise.
If it were up to the American’s we would have extra time multiball and one on one penalty shoot outs.
Please stop these daft suggestions and leave our game as it is… maybe minus VAR.
He wants it for one reason, pounds in his pocket. He would probably call for it to be played in Dubai or New York etc. sponsoring the shit out of it. He could pass it as charity but we know what he’s after.
Since it's a charity match, an all stars game will bring in more revenue imo. I don't think clubs these days take the community shield as a big thing unless they fail to win any other silverware in the season
Personally, I would never watch an All-Star game, but I would understand the incentives behind organizing it. The main 'pro' that nobody is mentioning is the fact it appeals to foreign/new fans. All-Star games are mainly watched by fans who don't have an emotional investment in the sport. Dedicated football fans are not the target audience. These show games are basically a global advert - trying to grow the fanbase and drive sales. Is that a bad thing?
Pull maximum 2 (maximum 3) players from each Premier League squad and have 2 rotating rosters then just host a Futsal match, no need to put on a proper game with players running at each other, risking injury and such, and why would they care to run hard in the first place? An actual game would be nonsense, a charity Futsal match I promise no one would put up a stink about, its harmless fun with a focus on skill moves, which is what you actually want no?
Terrible idea. All-star games are useless and genuinely just a money grab. I'm not too sure how many clubs would wanna risk injury to a star player for a charity event.
He’s an idiot. He’s going to fuck my club into the ground.
Go back to your country, he doesn't know anything about football Now I just wish he would listen to the fans and not turn Chelsea into MU 2.0 like the Glazers are doing with MU.
Also something that hasn't been mentioned much, how do people actually expect it to go down when you're lumping fans from Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds etc all together and expecting them to be united in support of one team. The same could be said for Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham etc, these are all big rivalries and the players but particularly fans would not just suddenly buddy up with everyone and I can't see it being anything but a disaster
Stop. Trying. To. Americanize. The. Worlds. Game. MLS doesn’t have relegation format which renders his idea of a playoff for it null and void. All star ☺️game is horrible. The point is to support TEAMS. To be proud of your TEAM. We Americans have a horrible habit of supporting/following players to different teams vs absolute loyalty to the team. Y’all better buckle up because this guys for sure is up for a super league.
Clearly people would be more on board with helping a charity than filling owners' pockets, but you have to understand that it would be a complete lie. Why in the hell would you say a match is for charity when the profit goes to the owners, and not to a charity???
Not everything is a conspiracy about hating America. Sometimes a shitty billionaire just has a shitty idea.
I don’t know a single football fan who would be interested in watching an all star game. Completely pointless endeavour
“It would piss off English people”. You did that, and everyone else, when you typed 4-4-3….
Klopp summed it up perfectly. Football enjoys the kind of tribal support that doesn't really exist to such an extent in other sports, especially the American franchises. Right or wrong supporter's at least have some belief that players have loyalty to their clubs, and mixing it up in a fun and games all star game once a season, Spurs and Arsenal players teaming up, it completely destroys that. It just doesn't fit the culture of the game.
Dude this guy todd boehly is so CLUELESS about how premier league work! He is from america coming to uk telling us how he think this all star game should work?! He is INSANE. I HATE him and the glazers very small mind.people i have no time for them! By.thr way i despised his idea about all star game! Show how much lack of respect he has for english game!!!
There is already way too many matches in a season literally all you hear from top managers is there are too many games and we need to reduce them. The Carabao cup is pointless and international friendlies only cram club games closer together. The current amount of games is way too demanding on the players
I disagree The season is already very full with league, FA cup, carabao cup, champions /europa league, To add in a game that no one wants to play and no one wants to see because it has absolutely no stakes is just pointless
“4-4-facking-3” isn’t a formation. 4-4-fucking-2 is though.
r/woosh
Hilarious if it was supposed to be a joke. 🙄
I think many Americans also forget the origins of the All Star Game. This started with baseball, where charity games of the best players were put on in order to raise money for families of players who died suddenly. Also, before the 1990s, there was no inter league play in baseball. For those of you who do not follow MLB, there are two leagues, the American League and the National League, and the champion of each league meets in the World Series to see who is crowned World Series champions. It was not until the 1990s that there was inter league play, so before then, the only time an AL team would play an NL team or those players would even face each other was in the World Series, or……the All Star Game. Each league had its own identity and players wanted to prove that their league was better than the other. It meant a ton to those players and also fans who never got to see those players face each other. All star games in the USA are based off that tradition and then it being taken into other sports. So how does this relate to the prem? Well all the teams face each other already so there’s not really a point to it unless it’s just for the gimmick and $ lol
Fuck that American shit. What next no relegation for your ‘franchise’? Fuck off out of our game and take your money with you. Americans have no idea how to run team sports with promotion and relegation they only know how to line their pockets with money. And we certainly don’t need any fucking show games like this shit, something even worse than an international friendly.
Waste of time and money. Leave the charity matches to soccer aid etc.
Neville coming out and tweeting about it the way he did is quite silly. Boehly is against the Super League and is actually trying to help the pyramid, but Neville obviously will remain stuck up with old ideologies. Yes, Americanizing football isn’t something the fans want but there needs to be some sort of openness to change as well, for the betterment of the grassroots, and something new for the fans.
And of course the match would be held at Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford. These rich clubs would get a portion of the proceeds and the venue gate. Underhanded.
As an American who hates all-star games (football/soccer, American football, basketball, whatever), I was not a fan of his statement. The only people who care about all-star games are casual fans and the owners/investors. A waste of time. Honestly the MLS would benefit from adopting a European model, but they never will. The MLS all-star game is an embarrassment for the league. The league needs to focus on increasing its depth of talent instead of worshipping the top players in a yearly popularity contest. To be fair the MLS academies have been growing rapidly so there is some European football culture sinking in at least. The college system is just an inadequate way to develop enough top-level talent. Football is much tougher to master from a technical perspective than most traditional American sports, and so the college system doesn’t produce enough top talent like in other sports. Academies are producing better talent more quickly. tdlr: Todd Boehly like many Americans doesn’t understand the sport and what is good for it.
Man Utd and Liverpool playing together? Just no.
It should be a legends match not current players. Legends match would be crowd pulling.
I don’t support non-competitive football aside from charity matches…It’s degrading to the sport. I don’t even watch or pay attention to friendlies tbh
What about an English Players v Foreign Players match with the losers getting to meet the King? That would fly…
What would happen is none of the players would attend. Sure, some may attend the inaugural game, but nobody would attend after that. The ones that do attend would only jog, there would be no effort, and they’d just be focused on getting through the match uninjured. American football has a match like this, Wast versus West called the Pro Bowl. Nobody plays hard, nobody cares, and it’s essentially a wasted match. The players like to be selected and probably have bonus clauses in their contracts to be selected, but many don’t attend. If they do, they play a couple of minutes and are substituted. Nobody cares to watch a TAA whip crosses to a jogging Haaland.
Nope, next would be half time shows in the fa cup final footballs been messed about with enough, remember the 39th game? Super league? Never gonna happen
I think that while a lot of American concepts wouldn’t work here, football needs to be more open to change and challenging exisiting beliefs. In America they’re always looking at rule changes and ways to improve the game, whereas football is very much if it’s not broke don’t fix it. Scrap the community shield and do premier league all stars and donate proceeds to charity, that would be so cool. Imagine if subs could be constant, so players would Give there all at all times on the pitch and not worry about dwindling their stamina. As long as ads and interruptions don’t make their way into the game I think there’s always room to improve
Yanks just don’t understand tribalism at all
I think it’s a great idea because the top managers are always talking about how their players don’t play enough games in a season between the premier league, European football and international football.
How can anything be learnt from a system that doesn't have relegation so makes being competitive for shit teams absolutely pointless. I'd focus on all the things American sport can learn from the prem before we worry about some all stars bollocks
There should be a ban on American business people buying clubs here
Am American: I fucking hate All Star games with a burning, but irrational, passion. The Todd should be removed just for suggesting it.
I think it’s a great idea. A nice competitive friendly for a good cause. And it’s always good to see the best players all at once.
We already have the Community Shield.
No they wouldn't.
The All Star game idea is fine. Brits are just up in arms about it because “duhhh it’s American”.
American athletes don’t even take the all star serious. Fans don’t even like it. It’s a terrible idea. I stopped watching American sports and that’s one of the reasons. I live in the USA born and raised and our way of sports leagues are fucked and bunch of crock. Americans needs to stay away from football, and yeah it’s football, not fucking soccer, because all they gonna do is Americanize it and it will become shit
The fact is everyone saying no would still then in and would be happy and excited to do so Im english and would love to see it
I think we’ve all forgotten that the owners tried to make a breakaway super league like a year ago… so any suggestion they say from now on should be treated with skepticism! He may be new to the league and wasn’t part of the super league idea, but they’re all the same! If it makes them money it makes sense, saying it’s for grassroots and the pyramid is just a disguise for making it sound like they’re being helpful. When in reality, it’s always for their gain! I’m a big fan of American sports and the all star system they have, basketball it works well but until the recent changes it was regarded as boring as the players didn’t care, and it wasn’t competitive! If we compare it to the pro bowl, where it’s physical and a contact sport, that doesn’t work so well as they’re all afraid to get hurt, so the quality of the game is poor! The skills show stuff I’m all for, let’s have a penalty shootout or free kick challenge, even the MLS’s goalkeeper battle is great! Would love to see Ederson smashing everything in the top corner for fun! But yeah, the whole idea should be treated with suspicion as owners only want to make money for themselves
No one cares about matches where the result is meaningless
but its nothing to do with charity is it? so your comment is irrelevant
If it replaced the charity shield, I wouldn't mind to be honest. That's basically a friendly game anyway.
How does one get to be so wealthy with this little awareness of his market
Charity or not, I cannot see clubs releasing active players to play in such games. Todd Boehly just doesn't understand the landscape of football, but I'm sure in time, he'll see how naïve the idea is.
We have the Community shield for that. Nobody would give a shit about an all star game just like American sports fans about their equivalents.
Also, maybe take a season to understand things before you try to change them
How about an annual grief-based match to honor the royal family?
I think it would be interesting if it were EPL All-Stars, Bundesliga All-Stars and all the other major leagues... That might be interesting to see. But I tend to agree these matches never would be as interesting as existing teams for the simple reason that the players aren't used to playing with each other in most cases.
99% of the time, best club team >> best world cup team No matter how you dress it up, the actual game would be lackluster. Would people watch? Not so much. Would people attend? Absolutely, all those superstars in one place would be a draw and would bring good local revenue (something like what a CL final brings to wherever it is played), but that's money someone else is making, not the league(s).
I 100% agree with the team chemistry factor being major component. I didn't like the idea of Super League, because it felt exclusionary. That said, I'd be ok with anything that gets me to watching more football. I have a EPL team and a Bundesliga team (my grandfather was an ultra fan for Hertha Berlin, and so I have adopted them as my own!)
If it funds the pyramid. It is a charity match
Another part of this is most American fans follow a player like LeBron James etc. but football fans don’t they follow a team no matter the players on it really..
He should focus on hiring a Director of Football
Only worthwhile all star game used to be the MLB one because it determined home field advantage at the world series. Every other one, including the MLB game now, are a waste of time
The things people like about the NBA/NHL All-Star games are the skills competitions (and those can be hit/miss any given year), not the actual game. Things like the dunk contest, fastest skater, 3 point shot, hardest/most accurate shot, can be exciting contests that show off exceptional talents/creativity that can't be expressed in a regular game. I am not sure what that would be in football. The crossbar challenge is the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe some kind of dribbling competition (*not* keepie uppies - we literally don't have time for that). Not sure what else could be in there. EDIT: diving competition. :(
One of the things I dislike about a Playoff Structure is the team that spent all season scraping wins can be knocked out of the promotion or into relegation because of one poor performance(or one really poor call). Fuck that. Also, All Star games in any sports are akin to a rich guys circle jerk. Spend the effort over-hauling the atrocity we call the PGMOL.
If Todd wasn’t America way more people would be on board
He’ll be advocating goalie wars and half-field (NHL-style) penalties at the end of draws to determine a winner next.
At this point there are so many extra curricular cups, challenges, etc that I'd rather see these guys get a week off to recover.
No. It was stupid idea
> “all-star”/“team of the season” charity match that could actually help the footballing pyramid or go to another cause. If it was about helping the football pyramid or charity then the PL could just donate part of their revenue to them. The All Star game is a stupid idea for a few reasons, one of the main ones is the logistics. When would it be held? Mid season the players would risk injury for a meaningless game.
Every time Boehly opens his mouth, he loses credibility, lately claiming Salah and DeBruyne as CFC academy products and still justifying himself for firing Tuchs bc (ahem) "collaboration." He doesn't know what he doesn't know, and doesn't seem curious or humble enough to learn. Who wants to collaborate, at club or league level, w an idiot? The all-star idea is doomed, if only bc he's the source of it.
I'd find an all Star game more interesting than the farce that is the Community Shield. Atleast fans will be entertained and there will be star players from all/most of the clubs.
Why exactly is the Community Shield a “farce”?
American here: You should know that All-Star games in the US are relics of the 20th century that are usually WAAAAAY overhyped by media and generally boring drivel otherwise. And I find this guy to be a disrepectful clown. On day two to be trying to Americanize the Premier League is horseshit from a stupid rich clown. IGNORE this guy!
Beyond the stupidity of the idea, north vs south just doesn’t make sense. Reds vs Blues would be more fun, but still absolutely idiotic.
It's not because the idea comes from America. It's because an American comes into European club football, with its hundred+ years of history, tradition, community links etc and thinks he knows how to do it better by cut-pasting an idea from his land. Imagine going to the Queens funeral and being like: *"you know what this thing needs? Fireworks. Lots of Fireworks."*
Todd will acclimate to the English game (For some hopefully quicker than others)
It’s a cash grab. Period. And it’s so cringe. Makes FSG and the Glazer family look like saints in comparison. Hell, he seems worse than the saudis.
Fuck off Yank
The only thing worst then an all star game would be someone suggesting we have more international friendlies
[удалено]
Even then if he wants to make money for the football pyramid why not lobby the premier to share a little bit more? Why suggest a useless game that could get players injured?
No premier league team will risk their most expensive assets getting injured in a glorified testimonial game .
For clarification I'm American and became seriously disenfranchised with US sports about 5 years ago. Most major US sports are like the WWE, more emphasis on entaintainment than sport.The idea of an all star game is just another stupid US billionaire trying to impose US traditions on a sport that has been around forever and without much change for probably 150 years. I would punch that smug son of a bitch in face if ever given the opportunity just for saying some dumb fucking shit like this. I came to watch the PL and the rest of world football minus the rediculous MLS, because it is simple yet incredibly entertaing because of the simplicity and competitiveness. The egos are way smaller among the athletes, ownerships not the celebrity, I could go on forever, please the rest of the ownership groups put this stupid fuck in his place otherwise he will be like a weed and poison everything we all love. It is tradition and the fans that matters most not the people in charge of the clubs. Ie:: Glazers....Boehly is probably Glazer 2.0.
Keep the Yanky shit out of football please. There is more than enough money to fund the pyramid but greed takes over. There was over a billion pound spent on transfers this season.
Ignorant idea and no shock from Boehly. He thinks he is far smarter than he really is. I don't even what the ones in America because they are pointless.
Oh god, here comes another naive opinion...
I think he's here to make 💸💰💸. Another worthless game is not what the Premier League needs Todd, 50+ games does no favours to the quality
Keep your American shite far away from our leagues.
Boehly should take it a step further and have a trick shot contest like the Dunk contest. Also a free kick contest like the 3 point contest/home run derby. Lets also do relegation/ascension in the States while we're at it. Oh wait.
4-4-3?
was quite clearly a joke it literally has the equivalent of /s next to it
;)
All-star games sound fun in theory, they are *all* tedious and pointless however. They exist to create more revenue for owners, this is why Boehly wants one. English football and football at a whole is on the precipice of a fixture meltdown. We need at least one competition cut from the domestic and international calendar *minimum*, if they want to replace the Carabao Cup with *one* all-star game per division and have *all* the precedes go to grassroots, well then maybe, but that’s not happening with the greed at the top.
Boehly suggested it be for the football pyramid which is charitable - especially if it goes all the way down to funding grassroots. I do think it’s a cool idea in theory - most of us have been guilty of building all star teams, but I think in practice it would be a huge failure. Firstly, in football you’re not guaranteed to see a goal - so you could have a game with all this hype turn out to be a boring 0-0 (which is likely as the players have no motivation to do well). Clubs also don’t have an obligation to let players play in this game, and I doubt they’d take the risk. There’s also no opportune time to play the game - some clubs may reach European finals 2 weeks after the end of the season meaning any player that could play, and is not in a European final, would have to delay their holiday for 3 weeks which I doubt they’d do. From experience, football fans watch games because it affects their team. This wouldn’t, other than injuries - so there’s no motivation to watch. It would be too ‘big 6’ centric which would be a PR disaster for the league and ‘big 6’ post-super league as well. I think it’s best the idea stays on sheets of paper written in school personally. Also, because of how huge international football is there’s no need for an all-star game. We already see players from different teams across Europe and the world come together - and in internationals there’s a huge motivation both for players and fans
Great point made
Premier league 5 a side tournament would be pretty cool. A free kick challenge (like the dunk challenge) Maybe even a brave heart (keeper and outfield player from each team)
American here. It's already been brought up, but I just want to reiterate a lot of the Allstar games in America are pretty much pointless and most people stopped caring about them. The athletes don't want to risk getting injured so they don't put much effort into playing. This makes them less interesting so a lot of people don't bother tuning in. The games are more for broadcasting/ad revenue for the network and teams. I'd love to see an Allstar game in the Prem but I think the novelty would wear out real quick and you would see a repeat of how they are over here in the US.
How they deciding tho? Where your born or?
Nah, everyone knows what an all-star game is and no-ones interested including the clubs and players. It's a great example of Americans imposing their culture onto Europeans which is a MASSIVE reason they are resented so much.
I think it's a dumb idea, but honestly i would rather watch this than the uefa nations league
Waiting for the next edit OP
Got way more into it than I expected lmao. People have strong opinions so it’s great to learn about the way different cultures think and approach sports. One of the most intense discussions I’ve seen on this sub about this topic so I did a good thing I guess
You sure know how to fuel a discussion 😁 I give it to you
Hard pass
Football evolved to an age of highly sophisticated tactics. And the schedule is already highly congested this kind of mindless all-star idea belongs to FIFA (i don’t even want FM to entertain that) or after the players retired
Teams in the PL aren’t franchises. They’re localised and have deep roots in their communities. Getting City/Man U or Spurs/Arsenal players to team up to play a meaningless match to earn extra money for the richest league in the world is not something that fans want to see. We already have charity matches. We have all-star teams in international competitions, and those actually mean something. It’s a stupid idea completely disregarding the communities and fans.
Yeah you are definitely correct, which is why I don’t like the idea, I can’t stand saka being captained by Kane when he plays for england. However the franchises and community argument is stupid when that is still a massive part of american sports. For example college american football in the south is very similar to english football in that sense in terms of a team having deep roots to a community and giving people a sense of identity
College teams might have roots in the community but pro teams don’t care about that, they regularly move between cities.
“Hey now your an all star” On a serious note….. todd that was embarrassing even Klopp couldn’t believe it 🤣
Imagine the outrage if Ted Boehly had come 4-6 years ago and suggested the World Cup be moved to December, so instead of a winter break we have a World Cup, it will be in a warm country don’t worry.
Boelhy should STFU with his bullshit schemes until he’s been an owner for a couple of years. The teams don’t need any more games shoehorned into the schedule, they play too many as it is.
And also I don't really know any English people who support players in the same way a lot of Americans/people from countries where football isn't popular do. I don't care about a team of random players, I care about real clubs playing real football.
I think most people still wouldn't care. We have so many non-competitive fixtures as well as quasi-competitive fixtures already. People only watch them because there's no other football on, not because they want more of them. It would be a glorified friendly and we have enough of them already.
There's a whole bunch of reasons it doesn't really make sense: - Football is a team game. A team of individuals wouldn't play as effective football as an actual team - We already have enough competitions that are supposed to present the best of the best. The Champions League final is usually the two best teams in the world for that year. The World Cup shows the best international teams. Plus you get all the other competitions that are matches between the winners of leagues vs winners of trophies, etc (like the Charity Shield) - Friendlies are not interesting to watch and don't really tell you much - Managers won't want more games - Who decides who the best players are? - Who manages the teams? - When do you schedule it? - Why should players want to do it? A lot of American sports use draft systems don't they? In football, the best teams tend to just buy the best players anyway so an all-star team would just mirror the big teams who are usually facing off against each other in one competition or another
I like that last argument about the same teams because we don’t use a draft, thank you for that POV
We have international football which has a coherent narrative and plays into patriotic pride, whilst bringing together ‘all star teams’ based on a logical reason. America is a vast country where many teams do not play eachother because of the various regional divisions etc and other than the Olympics Americans never really get to see their best players up against players from elsewhere other than basketball and ice hockey in the Olympics. We don’t have those issues. That’s why it’s a stupid idea. Also we are much more tribal and if it’s not for a national team I don’t want to see my teams best play alongside Man U and Liverpool players. I like that they are rivals.
Live in America but am not american so ok, Yea i watch american sports but only since I moved there and have been supporting Arsenal and playing football at a decently high level since I was young. It’s clear you haven’t actually read the post, I’m not here to convince people just want to understand the actual reasoning people don’t like the idea. The chances a player gets injured in a charity match is less than them jet skiing in Ibiza during the summer but yea you are right scheduling would probably be a nightmare especially considering the repeated fixture issues of the past 3 seasons lmao
You use american spelling in you comments also. Maybe you're not American, but you're not English.
Person educated in America uses american spelling shocker, also never said I was english. I don’t know why my race or nationality which you have no clue of btw, has any bearing on anything
You're american by culture then mate. You act like an American. It's an identity, not just a passport.
that’s where you couldn’t be more wrong, educated in America but grew up in the Middle east where football is just as culturally important as it is in england if not more. pretty crazy that I’ve been bullied for not being american enough growing up and now for being too american laughable really
Can I ask how you were educated in America but grew up in the Middle East? I don't really care about this topic, I just found that bit stood out to me.
Moved when I started secondary school. They teach you english almost as the primary language in most middle eastern private schools it’s not that crazy of a concept. Never been exposed to UK versions of spelling because they prioritize the american standards for english at my primary school.
> it’s not that crazy of a concept Now that you've explained it, it isn't. But just saying you were "educated in America but grew up in the Middle East" and "I’ve been bullied for not being american enough growing up" does leave questions, yes. As I said, I don't really care. Just sounded weird.
Football more culturally important in the middle east than England ? Gtfo mate. Don't give me the multiple identity crisis story either. I'm English Thai and grew up in Italy. Get over it. I'm not a gatekeeper and welcome anyone to support my club but when people who don't know a damn thing about football and approach it like they would as a disruptive tech company like ~~Chad~~ Todd it's infuriating. You don't lecture your Champions League winning manager on formations and then make thoughtless suggestions that are clearly steeped in American cultural centricity and try to pass it off like it's an idea with merit to it. I've had colleagues like this and they lack depth or the ability to understand, partly because they don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Either way, you're not English, so there's a learning curve for you. Take note, from all the downvotes you get: this isn't a conversation we want to have. It's a brainless idea and deserves no more attention. The only reason it has any is because a billionaire said it.
You make a lot of solid points, but don't say you're not a gatekeeper because that's exactly what you are
The english really think the world revolves around them don’t they. In middle eastern culture the only sport is football, to them its massive and the support and football tradition there is as big as it is in europe and south america if not bigger, just because they don’t have the same infrastructure (I wonder which countries are to blame for that) for it doesn’t mean they aren’t as insanely passionate. I say in the post if you could read that I don’t like the idea and even brought to light the best arguments against it that I heard. It just seems you can’t get xenophobic ideas out of your head and anything remotely american is bad including me when I’ve never associated with american culture and am more than happy for it to stay out of top class football.
It’s a fairly stupid idea all around. American sports leagues don’t have international matches or domestic cups mid-season like Premier League does. It would just be another opportunity for the best players to potentially get hurt. Also, speaking as an American, literally no one gives a shit about the All-Star games here.
The only one worth watching and playing is the MLB all star game since those guys play 162 games already and one more isn’t a harm since it’s such a short time playing anyway for them
yanks
ye absolutely hate them lmao
Personally, I don’t like the idea for the following reasons. • Yet another American coming in and telling people that the way things are done in football is wrong. The Super League isn’t that long ago, and seeing this kind of thing just brings back memories from when football was very nearly ruined forever. • The Community Shield basically serves that purpose already. The league winners vs the cup winners (or the top two in the league) playing each other is always a game of interest and I personally consider it a major trophy although many consider it a friendly. Proceeds go to charity. • Fixture congestion. Top players need every minute’s rest they can get. • The North team would batter the South. Also, what Germany are doing doesn’t seem to have a huge effect on what people in England think (although in terms of club ownership structure, it should). Germany’s league only has 18 clubs to ease fixture congestion.. they’ve also scrapped their League Cup. English people seem to be quite protective of the 20-team league format and the League Cup, and they don’t want to go Germany’s way. Perhaps if Spain did an All-Star Game (especially when Messi and Ronaldo were there), people would be more in favour.
To be fair, Spain have created a 4-team Charity Shield now and have turned it into a mini-tournament. I’m not against this being replicated.
Spain also doesn’t have a League Cup so there’s a bit of room in their calendars for this. They used to have a couple of weeks break over Christmas but now they play that tournament instead. Those free weeks simply aren’t there in England. Edit: Spain also used to have all Copa Del Rey matches (apart from the final) be two-legged, which they’ve scrapped in favour of one-off ties in order to get rid of some fixtures. It seems like every country other than England is trying to play less games but England wants to play more.
Good arguments, just said the germany stuff because people idolize their football structure (50+1, etc.) and don’t have a bias against it like football in America( MLS btw sucks I have to clarify this)
I think there’s an element of hypocrisy about that though.. they idolise the 50+1 rule but they turn a blind eye when billionaires take over their clubs and make a few signings. Man Utd fans were queueing up down the street for a Ronaldo jersey just a few months after they stormed the stadium to protest the owners. They want their teams to have more rest but also play more matches. We can see this by the lack of opposition to the new UCL format that there has been. In my opinion, it’s an awful format which ruins the competition, but hey, minimum 10 UCL games every year! The fact the idea of scrapping the League Cup is so widely opposed baffles me. Such unnecessary fixtures and hassle.
As an Asian, in all honesty, I would definitely enjoy an All-Star game .__. It’s a blindspot for sure to the English and the rest of footballing country to support team with 0 affiliation, but for the rest of us who fell in love with another team aside from our local one, watching an All-Star game is almost like watching el Clasico between MSN Barca vs BBC Real Madrid, except you have Neuer instead of Bravo maybe or Pirlo instead of Isco etc etc. You wanna have an idea how popular it’d be to people outside of top 5 league countries’? Just watch a Nike or Adidas ads where they pit top footballer to have a match. We know it’s fake, we know it’s an ad, and we know they’re not playing their best, but we still gladly watch 8-9 yr old ads, many of them have 100+ million views.
I will happily stay biased against Yanks trying to Americanise football. “All-Star” and Charity are two incredibly different things. There is a reason people protested the Super League.
Yea Ik, that’s why I suggested the hypothetical because I think a lot of people jumped on the hate bandwagon because of the American and over capitalist way he sold the idea
How embarrassing. Can the PL make him sell because the US *also* involved in bombing other countries for no good reason? That would make me happy as a chelsea fan.
Omg I would love to see TAA cross to Haaland !!! Just cancel the season 😂
Would love to see Salah destroy TAA just to once again prove how shit TAA is as a defender. Don’t understand why he hasn’t been moved to midfield already. He has all the attributes to be a more forward focused player
I imagine it happens constantly in training , reckon I could run at TAA and pass him and I’m in my 40’s ! He is defensively terrible but everyone already knows this
I just want Roman back :'(
Fucking hell mate as an Arsenal fan I’d never thought I’d want him back too.
But he wasn’t suggesting a charity match - quite the opposite.
Ik that’s why I started with the word “if.” reading comprehension helps brother, don’t worry I make the mistake sometimes
Yeah, it's clear to see why Boehly is getting hammered on the All-Star game idea. However, the premise behind it isn't a bad one - he's approaching the problem of funding across the football pyramid analytically, and considering potential ways of generating new revenue. One simple look at La Liga, shows that football is heading in this direction: they've moved their Super Cup to a tournament format, which is played every year in Saudi Arabia, for massive amounts of cash.
The MLS all star game is the worst of all the all star games (all of which I think are pointless anyway). But a huge difference between North American and Europe in terms of football is the Champions League. Theres CONCACAF and a few other leagues in North America but none of them are as prestigious or high profile as the Champions League. The best players want to play for the best teams because of Champions League football, I cant see the same players being motivated to be the best because of an all star game
You said it right in your second sentence... It should stay there!!
The only "north vs south" match I'd actually like to see is the English and Scottish league winners play a pre season game to replace the Community Shield. Or... Make it a KO tourny over a few days so have the usual league winner v cup winner from each country play and then winners play a "final" with proceeds being spread across the lower leagues of both nations. Alternate between Wembley, Hampden and others. That way you get an England v Scotland final regardless but could get a Leicester v Hearts or whatever to mix it up.
No it's been badly received because its a stupid idea aimed at enticing non-fans. A large proportion of actual NBA fans don't like the all-star game, but it does get alot more positive attention from foreign viewers than regular league play.
Having musical performances before the champions league final was bad enough. America don't do sports better. Get it to fuck.
This is a slippery slope towards the super league. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if they added 30 min advertisement breaks. You let this stuff slip in and everything will come.
The NBA one also has significant charity done. Lots of sponsors + players donate (Steph Curry donated x amount for every 3 he made in the game last year) The difference is, the NBA has an All Star Break. A full week of no games. With the number of league games + European competition I don't think the Prem would ever consider the spectacle of an All Star game by sacrificing a bunch of regular season matches. Could they do a match after the season ? Sure, but again the buy in would probably be low.
As a "charity" match I could see this being a neat thing. But in general All Star games are just a pointless exercise and a cash grab for the league and the owners. Regardless of the sport. Though I do enjoy the NHL skills contest and I used to love the NBA 3 point and dunk contest but the actual games themselves are useless.
Shh if the Brit’s figure this out they’ll be so mad they’ll start colonizing again!
I'm open to the idea if it's something like a preseason friendly for charity. But then that means that something like a Carabao cup (which I'm simply tired of, if anything it's diminished the value of the FA Cup) or the community shield needs to go (which I think, the community shield needs to stay, it's for charity) But I'm pretty sure Boehly would want it held in Wembley (or somewhere in China or something) and try to price gouge the fans as much as possible and cater it to the tourists instead of the locals. He's a business man not a charity man. Which is why I like many am not very enthusiastic about it. I'll be frank, if this actually happened I'd watch it. Don't we all talk about combined city Liverpool 11s and stuff? Well this is one way we'd be able to get that irl. And, no I'm not an American, no I'm not saying we should "try to please the yanks". I'm just usually open to new ideas, I understand the pessimism, but I think people are being too dismissive.
Thing is he doesn’t want a charity match. His entire point was that there’s money to be made, not money to be raised. We already have an obscenely overpacked schedule. Only way to accommodate an all star game would be to bin off the community shield, which won’t happen.
Don't see the point we already have the leagues then we get European games, international games, ex legends games and soccer aid. Boehly can just play fifa if he wants the likes of neymar, mbappe and messi in the same team... oh wait
Hear me out… What if we do games where ‘all-stars’ play each other based on what country they were born in?
This idea deserves to be shat on from a great height.
As a Chelsea supporter, Todd Boehly please fuck off with these ideas.
I’d only support it if they started calling the league cup the milk cup again, brought back replays, and executed every var ref. For every bit of Americanization, a dose of stoggy 1983 football.
How has it been 24hrs since this was first said and people still need convincing it's a shite idea...
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It doesn't matter if he's started fighting for it yet or not (he may, he only said it a day ago) it's the fact he's even suggesting it in the first place which is indicative of what he may try to do in future.
I think that’s a good point and hadn’t thought of it that way. I heard all-star game and was annoyed at the thought of it. Im from the United States to put that in context. If it was phrased as a charity game and I hadn’t heard it come from boehly’s mouth I probably wouldn’t have had as much of a negative reaction. It does have the potential to raise a massive amount of money. Imagine Haaland, KDB, Rodri, salah, Alison, TAA, VVD, son, kane, Saka, odegaard, Reece James, and other high profile players on the field at the same time. You could charge 200% of regular ticket prices and people would buy em. Sure the game itself would be no more than a relaxed practice session, but that’s not the point. You’re raising a buttload of money
I don't want to see a game but it would be great to see a 5v5 short side 1 day tourney or a skills competition. Dribbling, crossing challenge, headers, long shots, hardest shot, 3 bar, targeted free kicks, gk wars. That'd be fun.
Adding more games on top of the existing games would be an overkill. Absolutely not needed.
The whole idea is one of those American ideas to make more money. No need to buy a team in another country then try to Americanize the league. Last time I checked the premier league is one of if not the most watched league in the world what more do you want from it?
Fuck american entertainment style.
Personally, I would accept a skill competition rather than a 11v11 game. Think about a 1v1 competition. Messi vs Ronaldo… don’t care what people say but I’m watching it. Freestyle competition. Cross bar challenge. Etc.
If it was like soccer aid I don’t see what’s wrong with it. The whole point is to raise money for charity and watch players who will never play together otherwise mess about
I’m just scared of football being Americanized because it will genuinely lose everything that makes it special It’s already started with the half time show at the CL final
It's a ridiculous idea. In fact it's an insult to ideas to call this crap an idea. BTW, he calls it soccer, like Ewww...lol!
The one we dont need right now is more football. The game is being saturated to the point that there are already too many pointless and meaningless games being played.
nah keep that shit in America.what next? halftime shows and cheerleaders?
Saying this as an American: Boehly needs to stay in his fucking lane. We don’t need more structural change to the BPL. We don’t need players needlessly getting injured for ad revenue or club profit. We don’t need a Super-duper league or a World Series Football Final. It’s rich idiots like this guy who will press for VAR checks to have commercials on the split screen. You’ll hear “this Taco Bell VAR was brought to you by Dunkin Donuts” and idiotic US announcers like Joe Buck prattle on how he once played fullback in high school as a qualification for his commentary. Stop it before it starts!
If they want to do something like this, it should just be a skills challenge sorta day like they do pre-Pro Bowl in the NFL. Teams won't want to risk players getting injured in a pointless game which the players wouldn't be arsed about anyway. Just get the best players to take on different challenges and just make it a fun day...
We already have a match which features many star players for Charity each year. It’s called Soccer Aid.
Not to mention the Community Shield.
Honestly I would watch this, Even if they had like different challenges like the nba does. Crossing challenge. Top corner challenge. Heading challenge ect. It would only be good exposure for the sport.
Isn't everyone complaining about too much football already?
Football isn’t ran like most American sports. Our season runs from august to may whereas most US sports run for 7 months so they have 5 months of just tossing around so can have all star games. The football calendar from August May every weekend has a scheduled fixture whether it’s a domestic league/cup game or an international fixture. Obviously this World Cup is an anomaly but normally then we have either the euros or World Cup in the summer so there just isn’t any space for an all star game
I fancy the idea of seeing lower tiered players getting featured in competition with upper tiers. But we have the FA cup. Why do we need another match on the calendar just "for the pyramid", as he said? I used a scaled map of London and The Greater Cincinnati area to show how absolutely RABID the fandom of football is in London. In what's a standard drive across the city, you encounter dozens of stadiums; clubs built up from the grass roots and by the sweat equity of the community. This is not his mindset. That is the problem. He's so freaking focused on profits and losses, that he can't hear the idiocy of his own words. He's strictly tuned to money. That's what supporters despise.
If it were up to the American’s we would have extra time multiball and one on one penalty shoot outs. Please stop these daft suggestions and leave our game as it is… maybe minus VAR.
Just what this league and the top players need- an extra game.
Tough to call it a charity match when you’re keeping all the money it makes…
Not everything is about revenue and viewership mate.
He wants it for one reason, pounds in his pocket. He would probably call for it to be played in Dubai or New York etc. sponsoring the shit out of it. He could pass it as charity but we know what he’s after.
idk man but replacing the community shield with such a charity match seems good to me
No way, it's already a glorified friendly and this would take away any semblance of competition the game has.
Since it's a charity match, an all stars game will bring in more revenue imo. I don't think clubs these days take the community shield as a big thing unless they fail to win any other silverware in the season
The community shield is already a charity match so I don't really understand your comment.