League of Nations

This weekend will see the NBA Playoffs begin, as the sixteen remaining teams from the Eastern and Western Conference, will all be eying the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. Those who follow the sport will be looking for a gripping set of ties in the run-up to the NBA Finals. With the regular season drawing to a close, what were some of the key moments in a gruelling 82-game schedule that started last October?

One prominent feature of the season was the NBA becoming the third of North America’s popular big four sporting leagues, to stage competitive games in the UK. Major League Baseball remains the only entity not to dip its toe in this market, as London’s O2 Arena played host for a two game attraction, which pitted the New Jersey Nets against the Toronto Raptors. A venue which is no stranger to glamorous North American contests, the site has regularly staged pre-season exhibition matches featuring selected NBA teams since 2007, and in the same year, hosted a NHL regular season contest between the Anaheim Ducks and the LA Kings.

This year’s NBA attraction saw the New Jersey Nets win both matches against their Canadian rivals, as the second tie reached an exciting conclusion by going into triple overtime with a 137-136 for the Nets. In the midst of such a thrilling ending, in the main, the venture was graded as a positive success and a worthwhile project by the NBA. The encouraging enterprise the NBA showed in their London regular season series, and Wembley Stadium regularly playing host to NFL competitive match-ups for the last five years,  the precarious question will no doubt asked if or when the English Premier League will go abroad.

Past discussions have seen the league propose an internationally staged, ‘39^th game’ being mooted. All of which has resulted in such talk being panned by the potential clubs involved, and their respective fans. Some of the game’s influential officials in both FIFA and UEFA have claimed that they would block such a course of action, but is it really that bad a proposed move?

Perhaps in its concept, an additional game placed on an already busy football schedule is not the soundest suggestion, despite being just one game. The sport is already congested as it is. With a demanding club schedule as well as juggling international competitions, there are already calls that too much football is being played and today’s footballers need a set break during a campaign. Factoring the logistics of travelling to this additional fixture, would present a far from ideal scenario for both the clubs, and the anticipated home-based supporters that may wish to attend. Particularly for the latter, who pay large fees for their annual season tickets to watch their respective teams play.

However, there is some merit in taking the English Premier League global. The competition itself is recognised as the world’s most watched football league, and the most lucrative in terms of combined club revenues. Ranked as the top league in Europe, based on a coefficient system set by UEFA for club performances over a five year spell, the Premier League currently leads the way ahead of Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga.

With such an international appeal both commercially and publicly, those that govern the league would naturally want to explore avenues to further capitalise on its status, and progressively grow ahead of its rivals. After all, it was with this mindset that the Premier League was even initially formed. In braking away from the Football League which originally was founded in 1888, and by taking advantage of a lucrative television rights deal; it is arguable that the Premier League would have not achieved the success it enjoys today and since its creation in 1992.

In looking to go worldwide, rather than a one-off game, perhaps the English Premier League can follow the NBA’s suit. Why not stage a two game series for the featured teams over two consecutive match-days, and incorporate the games in to the regular 38-game season? This would lessen the difficulty for all those concerned in travelling long distances for one specific game, without additional fixtures being contested to a season’s program. 

In addition, it would retain the league’s long tradition of an equal amount of matches played both home and away, and would give the fans within the selected nation not one but two opportunities to see their favourite Premier League teams and stars. Not to mention look favourable from a financial perspective for the Premier League, as this seems to be the theme of sport rightly or wrongly.

Also in its execution, the Premier League could go one better than it the North American sporting counterparts, by proposing the entire 20 league clubs to compete in the internationally staged games. They can do this through a set window early in the season, over the course of the two suggested match-days mentioned. It would be a fairer proposition rather than selecting a predetermined set of teams to travel exclusively that the NBA, NHL and NFL currently follow.

No matter how orchestrated, yes maybe international league fixtures is a far-fetched scheme, and there is a strong thought the plan would really only benefit the league’s richer and perhaps more famed clubs. However, renowned as football’s ‘world’ league, maybe it is time the English Premier League gave its prized product a gift to the world.