[Archived] This Will Stop Jordans Plan

[iamarover]

If the bar chart on this BBC article is right, we ain't seen anything yet. Pne happy by-product is that at least ticket prices at Ewood might not rise again.

I wonder what the answer to a poll question: would you prefer higher ticket prices or a 39th game in another country would be?

Well even the dimmest Dingle would take the low ticket price.... and...lets not forget. This 'global' EPL is Rovers' best/only hope of maintaining a serious Premier challenge. The more overseas rights soar then the less gates at home become an issue. And in the arena of well run clubs, organisationally and financially, Rovers are world leaders.

In 20 years time our kids reading this messageboard archive will be guffawing at the narrow mindedness that nearly cost Rovers their playing future. Lets face facts. Bangkok or Blackpool away? Where would you fancy watching the famous blue n whites? On telly or on the beach this is the way the EPL should go. Ironically it is the smaller clubs like Derby, Wigan and the Rovers who have most to gain from a global division where TV money plays the global tune.

Get real boys n girls. This could be the start of the long road back to glory.

[Rob of the Rovers]

I quite like the fact that the Premier League is the biggest and best league in the world. We can attract the best players to this country because of the wealth of our clubs. I love the fact that I can go down to Ewood and see one of Turkey's greatest ever players, South Africa's record goalscorer and one of South America's top strikers.

In order to maintain this position, it is logical for the Premier League to go down this route, before the Spanish or Italian Leagues take advantage.

Plus, for all those who are saying "what about the fans?", we are talking about 10 games being broadcast directly into your living room from exotic locations all around the world. As a football fan, I know what I will be doing that weekend...

[Rob of the Rovers]

As a counter to my arguement, I would be dead against any more than one game being played abroad, it has to be a showpiece, once a year event. With our already crowded fixture lists, I can't see how it could be anything else.

[The Harwood Yankee]

I like the way there's not even an attempt to disguise the fact that this idea is purely about money. It's the global 'branding' of our nation's premier league, and nothing to do with football. As fans we should be allowed to vote on this, not leave it to the chairmen who are all in it for the money anyway.

Whilst we berate such issues as poor refereeing standards, over-inflated wages, and offside rules, the men who run football are more interested in greed and making more and more money. Pathetic.

The only possible redeaming of this idea would be to play this farcical extra fixture in deprived areas & give all the money to humanitarian causes. And I dont mean Burnley...!

[1864roverite]

If the media reports on the initial suggestion are believed to be correct then the one off game is worth an estimated 5m to each club in extra revenue per season.

For a club like Rovers, is that an amount of money that we can ignore ??

Imagine this, the winter break is brought in so football closes down 25th December and the games do not resume until say 31st January. Thats a big hole in income as we all know attendances go through the roof at Christmas and New Year and we also have the FA cup.

Rovers v Manure in say Beijing on 13th January does not sound so bad, especially in front of 75000 fans. The tv exposure and world wide brand of Rovers would be seriously enhanced even though probably 99.9% of fans would be red supporting scumbags !!

2 weeks to recover and 5m PLUS banked.

[robborover]

So how many Australians would watch Derby vs Birmingham then?

I like the idea of extra money, but I think it will only benefit the bigger clubs due to their bigger fanbases (eg: United in Asia).

[CAPT KAYOS]

If the media reports on the initial suggestion are believed to be correct then the one off game is worth an estimated 5m to each club in extra revenue per season.

For a club like Rovers, is that an amount of money that we can ignore ??

Imagine this, the winter break is brought in so football closes down 25th December and the games do not resume until say 31st January. Thats a big hole in income as we all know attendances go through the roof at Christmas and New Year and we also have the FA cup.

Rovers v Manure in say Beijing on 13th January does not sound so bad, especially in front of 75000 fans. The tv exposure and world wide brand of Rovers would be seriously enhanced even though probably 99.9% of fans would be red supporting scumbags !!

2 weeks to recover and 5m PLUS banked.

For what purpose 1864 ... to purely make money

ITS WOULD BE DETRACTING FROM THE SPORT and just making a mockery of the Fans who attend the other x38 games - so what is the point of the Season - the money will just be used to line people's pockets who then come up with other totally stupid ideas like this.

Why don't they just play every game in different cities etc. and do away with the league format

If they are going to do it let it be out of season and not contribute towards points ... but then that would be a case of hey there is nothing worth playing for so why do it?

There is no Point whatsoever... and no matter which way you dress it up nobody is going to want to watch Rovers v Boro for example bar the FANS who it matters to!!

Remember if this goes ahead it will not stop there.

One thing is for sure this has now made me seriously consider not renewing my S/T now for next season until it is clear that this will not happen.

And as for being in early JAN ETC ... they have already been clambouring for a Winter Break anyway FFS.

[CAPT KAYOS]

I also thinks its a good idea. i couldnt care less if potentially we might lose out on 3 points if we got man utd as oppose to derby county in this proposed extra game. grew out of caring about things like that as a kid. what i do care about is following rovers away and for me there would be no better buzz than following rovers to somewhere like new york for example.

Sorry DB but you wouldn't be supporting 'The Rovers' as they are now (and I don't mean different players) if you get my meaning

[Fife Rover]

The final prostitution of the English game. All I'm hearing is 'brand', 'product', 'advertisement', 'marketing'..............I've not heard any mention of 'fans' yet. Disgusting !

Well said AK. I was beginning to get the feeling that I was the only one that had noticed or even cared!

[brian_gallagher85]

If the media reports on the initial suggestion are believed to be correct then the one off game is worth an estimated 5m to each club in extra revenue per season.

For a club like Rovers, is that an amount of money that we can ignore ??

Imagine this, the winter break is brought in so football closes down 25th December and the games do not resume until say 31st January. Thats a big hole in income as we all know attendances go through the roof at Christmas and New Year and we also have the FA cup.

Rovers v Manure in say Beijing on 13th January does not sound so bad, especially in front of 75000 fans. The tv exposure and world wide brand of Rovers would be seriously enhanced even though probably 99.9% of fans would be red supporting scumbags !!

2 weeks to recover and 5m PLUS banked.

74 fans plus Jordan seems a brilliant turn out for a Rovers away game

[RibbleValleyRover]

Don't like the idea one bit and its clear its money driven. The biggest teams, the likes of Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool will be the ones who will gain the most out of this in terms of merchandising revenue. It will i believe further increase the gulf between those at the top of the game and the rest of the league from a financial standpoint.

I also don't like this part of the proposal:

"It is understood the additional fixtures could be determined by a draw but that the top-five teams could be seeded to avoid playing each other."

So an automatic three points then for some of these "seeded" teams?

[brightonrover]

I've seen many changes to the game I love over the years but, for me, this would probably be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

It would completely pervert the league table by moving away from the home and away format which has always worked and throwing in an extra game.

I can't believe that some people on here are falling for the 'it'll give fans living abroad chance to watch a game' nonsense being spouted by Scudamore. It's just about money and nothing else and these people are prepared to ruin football in the pursuit of more and more cash.

I'll be contacting the club and the PL (for what it's worth) to express my disgust and to tell them that if they go ahead with the plan, I'll be switching my allegiance to Chorley FC until we're either demoted or someone with a bit of sense takes over the running of the game.

[Fife Rover]

Does anyone else think that this is just a "feeler"; an experiment being tried out by the vested interests to see how "Global Football Inc" would be received? This could very well be a step on the way to forming a World Super League with only the very top and richest clubs from the EPL, SPL, Serie A, La Leagua, etc being invited in and the rest being dropped to survive and do their own thing in any way they can.

For the uninvited English clubs this would prpbably mean a return to the Football League and a period of adjustment and sorting out along the lines of the old Div 1, Div 2, Div 3 and 4 with possibly taking in what is now the Conference as Div 5. Personally I think it would be a good thing and could mean a return to sanity and a decent and fair priced game for the ordinary everyday fans. Just so long as lessons are learned from the experience of the years since 1992, and the same mistake is never allowed to happen again.

[brian_gallagher85]

I do see it as a test, but with the disbanding of the G14 (coincedence) I don't see it moving across leagues

[jrabrfc]

I wonder how long it wil be before Rangers and Celtic start kicking up a fuss to get into the Premier League?

The whole "let's play games abroad" gravy train is what they've been after for years, and this is the ideal opportunity for them both to get some much-needed revenue, and with those 2 clubs on board the whole idea becomes more attractive for the money men, especially as it would involve getting rid of 2 of the more "unfashionable" Premier League Clubs.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I can really see this destroying the game in England if this goes ahead.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/20...89520-20312180/

<snip>

All 20 clubs backed the move after being promised £5million each to hold fixtures in Asia, Africa, Australia or America.

So the clubs get £5 million pound, but i can pretty much bet Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool will get far more than that in terms of merchandising revenue. Yeah real financial parity

The top five teams will be seeded so they cannot play each other. But that means teams in or near the relegation zone could, unfairly, face the big names three times in a season.

</snip>

So a club could be relegated from the league just because it had the bad luck of drawing a Man United or a Chelsea for this foreign game, meanwhile another club might stay up because they got a more favourable draw.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Does anyone else think that this is just a "feeler"; an experiment being tried out by the vested interests to see how "Global Football Inc" would be received? This could very well be a step on the way to forming a World Super League with only the very top and richest clubs from the EPL, SPL, Serie A, La Leagua, etc being invited in and the rest being dropped to survive and do their own thing in any way they can.

For the uninvited English clubs this would prpbably mean a return to the Football League and a period of adjustment and sorting out along the lines of the old Div 1, Div 2, Div 3 and 4 with possibly taking in what is now the Conference as Div 5. Personally I think it would be a good thing and could mean a return to sanity and a decent and fair priced game for the ordinary everyday fans. Just so long as lessons are learned from the experience of the years since 1992, and the same mistake is never allowed to happen again.

I do Fife but its still not right.

I agree as you say that it would probably mean a return to the 'Old Football League' set up per se, the question has to be would it though?

If this did happen (depending upon how quickly though) would all the fans then defect back to it, thereby nulling what the other set out to be and was no more than a glorified money making non compettitve event except for the TV Glitz and global viewing through OLED Tv's.. unless ( as many suspect they are trying to do anyway) this is what they want.

All pointless really... and just proof of the money making fat cow they want.

[Hughesy]

I think it a great idea for a club like ours because from gates and hosting rights money alone we could stand to get anywhere between £5 - £10 million for 1 game!! That is crazy!!!

Stop with the whining of “what about our supporters!!” – It’s a case of if the club/ league don’t move forward then they get left behind by the likes of Italian or Spanish clubs! Football is a sport, but it is also a business that at the moment our league is by far the strongest – to maintain that we have to look at developing into new markets and ideas.

1 game is nothing, however I DONT like the seeding Idea – you’re basically giving a team 3 points by saying 1st can only play 6th down. If they do that, then they have to allow the bottom 6 to play between them I would say – that way giving them a fair chance.

Although I suppose for the weaker teams – a defeat against man united, or arsenal, that is compensated by £5 million + wouldn’t be too bad.

By the time this kicks in, another new TV deal with of been struck, which is already going to be mega money to start with as ESPN have announced that they are to challenge Sky sports in 2009 for the best packages available, and also rumours that Setanta could also challenge.

IF this is what is going to happen then it would help a club like ours to start incorporating tour games in our pre-season to these other continents before 2010/11 to raise our profile before we get a game over there. That way when we do play there it might be a way to raise our merchandise sales i.e. shirt sales etc.

[RevidgeBlue]

If the media reports on the initial suggestion are believed to be correct then the one off game is worth an estimated 5m to each club in extra revenue per season.

For a club like Rovers, is that an amount of money that we can ignore ??

No. In fact as I said above, John Williams is probably hoping we can squeeze two more of these extra games in.

Really can't see what all the fuss is about. Anything which minimises the impact of the shortfall in income from our home gates has to be a good thing surely.

I see this as being a good thing for the smaller Premiership clubs, it might make the Premiership more of a closed shop but hey ho, tough titty, we're already there.

[brfcshabba]

Is there any reason why the team who is top of the league plays the bottom team, second play second from bottom etc.

[Hughesy]

£5 million extra for 1 game = reduced season tickets with the extra cash!! Making it more affordable for those supporters who feel left out!!

Ha RESULT!

[RibbleValleyRover]

I think it a great idea for a club like ours because from gates and hosting rights money alone we could stand to get anywhere between £5 - £10 million for 1 game!! That is crazy!!!

So we get £5 million + from one of these games, in terms of a match fee, gate reciepts, merchandise sales etc. Meanwhile a Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool get the £5 million match fee plus being worldwide brands a huge amount of money from merchandising. I can guarantee you, these clubs will get miles more money from this proposal than the rest of the clubs.

And if the clubs become richer, the cost of players will rise as they have more cash to splash. We saw that with the tv money increase it added a sizeable increase in transfer fees e.g players that were worth £2 million, became £6 million.

It will increase the gap between the top clubs and the rest of the clubs as they just cannot compete from a financial standpoint.

[CAPT KAYOS]

it might make the Premiership more of a closed shop but hey ho, tough titty, we're already there.

So that makes it right then Rev?

What about in 3 years when maybe we aren't?

Strange, you certainly seem to be changing your tune on the all ethos of Football or have you done an Emerton and redesigned yourself as MKII?

[1864roverite]

Thats right Hughsey, we are after all talking about 1 GAME only.

Who cares if there was only a small band of Rovers fans at the game. 30000 screaming Chinese, 20000 whingeing aussies or 17000 hardfaced yankies dont make a difference to the 5m in Rovers coffers. its the product they are merchandising and that is Premiership football.

ESPN will no doubt want involvement, the far and middle east tv companies will want involvement as will Sky and Setanta plus bbc and itv. The Premier League stands to make billions making it ever so important of being a member when it does happen.

I further say also involve Rangers and Celtic, it would make it a little more attractive and who could turn down a Rovers v celtic game ??

Yes it is all about MONEY but if it solves a hole in Rovers finances it can oly be positive.

So please, no more talk about not renewing season tickets, its not going to affect you in a negative way, it is all very positive if you look at it from a different perspective

[brian_gallagher85]

This £5m may not even be extra money though, as it might be already inlcuded in the coverage terms signed up?

Plus for the likes of Utd and Arsenal they may even lose money by not playing at home