UEFA Champions League changes

[Blue Mist]

ESL will be back if this happens and I think fans wouldn't oppose it as much.

Football cannot be allowed to forget about the fans who live local to their team and they shouldn't be asked to trek half way across their world to watch their team play. They are the lifeblood of any team.

A good point. I was against the ESL but this clown might end up pushing fans too far.

 

[dadnlad]

I can understand why Celtic fans love European football but it doesn't have to be run by UEFA who cream off most of the broadcast and sponsorship money and rip off the fans when the final is held. For example this year Rangers got about £3m for being runners up in the Europa League. If Rangers and Frankfurt managed their own broadcasting rights (or at least got a bigger share of a club-owned competition) they could have shared at least £100m from streaming that match. Like Celtic, they both have huge fanbases who would have paid £10 to watch it on TV. Wouldn't it be better to pay the club you support rather than the twats at BT Sport? It is just a thought but I

£10 a game you're having a laugh have you seen how much WWE and a nights boxing is
it'll be same as chippy's charging fortune because theres a queue of cars at mcdonalds

 

[halfcenturyup]

ESL will be back if this happens and I think fans wouldn't oppose it as much.

Football cannot be allowed to forget about the fans who live local to their team and they shouldn't be asked to trek half way across their world to watch their team play. They are the lifeblood of any team.

You think the ESL, if it ever happened, which it wont, wouldn't just be looking at the same thing? It's all about the money. Naive to think otherwise.

 

[DenisHasDoneIt]

But according to UEFA

"Football is for the fans....."

Čeferin’s thinking that people in LA, or Riyadh, who would love to watch a Champions League final where they live are fans too. They may not have hoofed it up and down the M6 all winter, overnighted in Premier Inns in Norwich or Swansea because of late kick-off times scheduled for the convenience of sports-bar fans and couch-surfers from here there and everywhere, or survived a diet of late-night scran at Keele Services, and their fandom may have been confined to their big settee, a grab bag of Cheetos and a remote, or a trip to their nearest big-screen sports bar, but they’re still fans, and their needs are not being met.

I get it, that some fans in Saudi or the USA or wherever, want to see top-level football live, and not just some pre-season kickabout. Some fans there travel huge distances to watch live games in the UK. But a Champions League final in Riyadh or Pasadena would be watched predominantly by fans who didn’t go to the group stage games, let alone the domestic games that got the team qualified to play in the bloody competition in the first place. Fans who did do think, rightly or wrongly, that they helped get the team to the bloody final. It’s not an unreasonable expectation that they be allowed to watch the culmination of their efforts and sacrifices.

I suspect that Čeferin is attempting to stimulate a demand for the product, rather than satisfy a pre-existing one. Views of overseas Blues on this question welcome.

 

[M18CTID]

Čeferin’s thinking that people in LA, or Riyadh, who would love to watch a Champions League final where they live are fans too. They may not have hoofed it up and down the M6 all winter, overnighted in Premier Inns in Norwich or Swansea because of late kick-off times scheduled for the convenience of sports-bar fans and couch-surfers from here there and everywhere, or survived a diet of late-night scran at Keele Services, and their fandom may have been confined to their big settee, a grab bag of Cheetos and a remote, or a trip to their nearest big-screen sports bar, but they’re still fans, and their needs are not being met.

I get it, that some fans in Saudi or the USA or wherever, want to see top-level football live, and not just some pre-season kickabout. Some fans there travel huge distances to watch live games in the UK. But a Champions League final in Riyadh or Pasadena would be watched predominantly by fans who didn’t go to the group stage games, let alone the domestic games that got the team qualified to play in the bloody competition in the first place. Fans who did do think, rightly or wrongly, that they helped get the team to the bloody final. It’s not an unreasonable expectation that they be allowed to watch the culmination of their efforts and sacrifices.

I suspect that Čeferin is attempting to stimulate a demand for the product, rather than satisfy a pre-existing one. Views of overseas Blues on this question welcome.

Great post. I must say though that the thought of a CL Final in somewhere like New York or Las Vegas would be some fucking trip! The downside though is that most fans will be priced out and for that reason alone it should never be on the agenda.

 

[Cellarite]

Čeferin’s thinking that people in LA, or Riyadh, who would love to watch a Champions League final where they live are fans too. They may not have hoofed it up and down the M6 all winter, overnighted in Premier Inns in Norwich or Swansea because of late kick-off times scheduled for the convenience of sports-bar fans and couch-surfers from here there and everywhere, or survived a diet of late-night scran at Keele Services, and their fandom may have been confined to their big settee, a grab bag of Cheetos and a remote, or a trip to their nearest big-screen sports bar, but they’re still fans, and their needs are not being met.

I get it, that some fans in Saudi or the USA or wherever, want to see top-level football live, and not just some pre-season kickabout. Some fans there travel huge distances to watch live games in the UK. But a Champions League final in Riyadh or Pasadena would be watched predominantly by fans who didn’t go to the group stage games, let alone the domestic games that got the team qualified to play in the bloody competition in the first place. Fans who did do think, rightly or wrongly, that they helped get the team to the bloody final. It’s not an unreasonable expectation that they be allowed to watch the culmination of their efforts and sacrifices.

I suspect that Čeferin is attempting to stimulate a demand for the product, rather than satisfy a pre-existing one. Views of overseas Blues on this question welcome.

That's a quality post. We've been asked by Pep to push the team past this hurdle tonight - the biggest Premier League match of the season. If the crowd plays its part tonight, the reward will be watching the trophy being lifted at the end of the season.

Imagine if we won tonight and then found out in the morning that the trophy lift will now be taking place in San Francisco?

 

[Nethermoor]

This is where the Club World Cup or whatever it's called could come in.

It's seen as a bit of a joke over here. But there must be a way to make it better. Maybe hold it every 4 years and include the previous 4 winners of each champions league from each region. Play it in the off season for the important leagues.

Might just make it better.

Champions league is fine as it is...

 

[DenisHasDoneIt]

Imagine if we won tonight and then found out in the morning that the trophy lift will now be taking place in San Francisco?

Frightening!

Who’d join the cup scheme if they knew they could never attend the final, or a revamped last-four or -eight, single-venue final-stage somewhere far away? Čeferin could look at his numbers and his survey results, and calculate he’d have a banger of an idea for a last-four in Las Vegas, but wouldn’t have factored in a potentially huge drop-off in interest in the early stages adversely impacting interest in the final stages outside Europe.

And for anyone thinking Vegas or Buenos Aires sounds a hell of a trip from Manchester (and who wouldn’t?), remember that there’ll be somewhere much less attractive to you in Čeferin’s crosshairs in a year or two.

 

[halfcenturyup]

Čeferin’s thinking that people in LA, or Riyadh, who would love to watch a Champions League final where they live are fans too. They may not have hoofed it up and down the M6 all winter, overnighted in Premier Inns in Norwich or Swansea because of late kick-off times scheduled for the convenience of sports-bar fans and couch-surfers from here there and everywhere, or survived a diet of late-night scran at Keele Services, and their fandom may have been confined to their big settee, a grab bag of Cheetos and a remote, or a trip to their nearest big-screen sports bar, but they’re still fans, and their needs are not being met.

I get it, that some fans in Saudi or the USA or wherever, want to see top-level football live, and not just some pre-season kickabout. Some fans there travel huge distances to watch live games in the UK. But a Champions League final in Riyadh or Pasadena would be watched predominantly by fans who didn’t go to the group stage games, let alone the domestic games that got the team qualified to play in the bloody competition in the first place. Fans who did do think, rightly or wrongly, that they helped get the team to the bloody final. It’s not an unreasonable expectation that they be allowed to watch the culmination of their efforts and sacrifices.

I suspect that Čeferin is attempting to stimulate a demand for the product, rather than satisfy a pre-existing one. Views of overseas Blues on this question welcome.

Tbf, I think Ceferin's thinking was that he was answering questions in America and was asked if the CL final could ever be played there. He isn't going to say "No fucking chance", now is he? Some bland non-commital answer seemed about right to me.

I thought his comments about a salary cap were more interesting and worthy of discussion.

 

[TinFoilHat]

It was mentioned on CBS during our game with Bayern that UEFA were considering playing the semis and final in New York as a "one off".

The next one off after that will be the top 4 European clubs playing it in Beijing, then Riyadh...