Regular readers of this website will be familiar with our observation that barely a day goes by in football without someone spouting nonsense – step forward Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly.
What is it about foreign billionaires spouting ridiculous ideas about English football?
Speaking at a ‘thought leaders’ conference in New York (oh, the irony), Boehly said that the Premier League needs to learn from American sports.
Yes folks, you read that correctly. What the English top flight needs is to pay heed to what goes on in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB.
These are competitions where the clubs are franchises, where relegation and promotion is an alien concept and where All-Star games take place.
Boehly wants to introduce some of those elements to the Premier League, starting with the idea that a ‘four-team tournament’ should be introduced to decide relegation.
In an already overloaded football calendar, Boehly wants to add extra games under the guise of making the competition more exciting.
However, his idea has nothing to do with that – it is simply about making more money. In some respects, it’s a bit like the ill-fated 39th game proposal but even more ridiculous.
This repeated yearning to Americanise the Premier League is rooted in the notion that all sports competitions should have a post-season.
This effectively devalues the regular season – the play-offs become all-consuming, and everything staged beforehand is just an aperitif.
As things stand, Premier League clubs have 38 games to ensure they remain in the top flight. If they finish in the bottom three, goodbye.
Yes, it’s brutal, but it works. No second chances. Sport at its meritorious best.
Not content with wanting to mess around with relegation from the Premier League, Boehly also floated the idea of an All-Star game.
This was conveniently wrapped up with a little bow that the money generated could be used to support the rest of the football pyramid. How noble.
The concept of the All-Star game is flawed. For starters, it is an exhibition game. Sure, they’re a great deal of fun, but they are nothing but glorified friendlies.
The term ‘All-Star’ is bandied around in American sports as if it means something – it doesn’t. Football is about winning and losing – not exhibitions.
If fans want to see the best competing against the best, they can – the Champions League and World Cup provide that in abundance.
We don’t need to watch a half-hearted Virgil van Dijk facing an equally half-hearted Harry Kane in a nonsensical north versus south All-Star game.
Boehly is already on his second manager at Chelsea and now wants to Americanise the Premier League. All of this begs the question, how exactly did he become a billionaire?
Thought leader? Not even close.
