A recent report released by a KPMG study on the economic damage caused by the European Super League has revealed that such an idea is sure to end a European tradition of more than 100 years and break the dream of millions of fans of local and national competitions, as was said by the president of the Spanish La Liga during a presentation last week.
The Super League was an idea created by the rich and powerful clubs of Europe in 2019, namely 12. These teams were going to break away from their respective national leagues and the UEFA, to play amongst themselves and divide the revenue earned accordingly. While there were provisions for teams outside the top 12 to break into the Super League, it would have been hard given that most of the money would have been hoarded by the Super League sides.
After major backlash from fans and the UEFA itself, the idea was supposedly scrapped. However, the latest findings have revealed that the idea is very much alive and would to detrimental to the future of the beautiful game as we know it.
Tebas, who presided over the presentation at the headquarters of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) in Madrid, said, “The format they are talking about is very detrimental to the national leagues, so they know that, if they explain it, the opposition to it will remain strong. Let's hope the Super League doesn't go ahead because it will destroy the local leagues and their supporters. We cannot allow football to be in the hands of the clubs with the most money, we have to find a balance".
According to the report, handing over power to the bigwigs of European football will lead to the loss of many jobs and affect the public purse across the continent. Hence, political authorities of the European Union (the Council of Europe) have chosen to stand against this idea.
Domestic leagues account for more than 70% of the revenues in European football and are basic components in the economic and sporting ecosystem of European football. The 40 European professional leagues and associations generate total revenue of €25.725 billion with €11 billion in audiovisual rights.
“We care about the rules of the court and what they say, but what matters most to us is the stability of our industry and if we have to fight for regulations that defend the stability of the European model we will do so. We do not want to be governed by those who have the most assets; we are more than the 20 richest clubs in football. We like models like the ones in Spain, La Liga, where there is a distribution and we don't do what the clubs with the most assets have", Tebas explained.
