This man might be the most famous player in the world, but he'll never be famous in America. |
In the European Premier leagues, it's simple, the regular season is the only season. There are no playoffs, there is no opportunity for the mediocre teams to pull off a miracle run to a championship. The two tournaments, FA and the Carling Cup don't carry the same importance as the Premiership title does. America is all about the playoffs and all about the opportunity for an underdog to make a memorable championship run. In the Premiership, with no salary cap, and no playoffs there are rarely ever underdog winners. In fact, only four teams have won the Barclays Trophy since its inception in 1992, Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and you guessed it---Blackburn Rovers. That makes one surprise winner in 19 years of the league. With the absence of any salary cap or luxury tax in the Premier League, there is very little difference in the final standings year from years.
I'm not here to speak out against the European Premier Leagues and say that their systems are flawed, even though I do think those things are true. They've been doing their thing for years, and all of the leagues are successful. What I am here to say is that Americans just don't get it. They don't understand why the regular season matters so much. They don't get the Champion's League and they surely don't know why there are two separate tournaments in addition to the league championship. It also doesn't help that the league changes from season to season with teams being promoted and relegated from the minor leagues as if the Pawtucket Red Sox are going to take the Orioles place the next time the Orioles have a bad season. Americans will also never understand the idea of a "transfer" and the fact that trading players happens every once and a never. American sports and European soccer leagues are at the core, different. That difference will never keep club soccer from breaking out in America. Though it's not like they really need a following in America, they'll simply take the rest of the world.
Maybe I'm wrong though. What if America all of the sudden becomes a soccer powerhouse? What if all of our players start playing for Chelsea, Barca, AC Milan or Man U? Maybe we just need to get better at the sport, and the following will grow. But, I'm going to stick with the league's basic differences as the reason why most Americans won't ever know what a Premier League is.
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