Senior figures from the Barclays Premier League’s so-called “Big five” clubs discussed the prospect of Champions League matches being played in the United States or the Far East at a meeting with the company that has spearheaded the drive to bring European football to North America.
Executives from Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United were photographed by The Sun leaving London’s Dorchester hotel after a meeting on Tuesday. Club sources say that there is no appetite for a breakaway league but confirmed that reforms of the Champions League were discussed, as well as new summer tournaments for European sides around the world.
Uefa has insisted that it is “not spooked” by the latest developments, but Europe’s leading clubs are manoeuvring for position in the run-up to the decision on the format for the Champions League before the next three-year TV cycle from 2018.
The clubs held talks with officials from Relevent Sports, the company owned by Stephen Ross, the American billionaire, who set up the International Champions Cup tournament, a high-profile global pre-season tournament for Europe’s top clubs. It has already proved a huge success in the US, which was made evident by the 109,318 fans — a record crowd for a football match there — who watched Manchester United beat Real Madrid 3-1 in Michigan in August 2014. The tournament has also staged matches in China and Australia.
One of the executives involved in the meeting told The Times that the talks did not cover the possibility of playing Premier League matches overseas nor the prospect of guaranteed places in the Champions League for leading clubs.
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The Champions League may be a more straightforward challenge, however, because Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the European Club Association (ECA) chairman and executive chairman of Bayern Munich, said in January that European matches could be played in the US or the Far East and that idea was discussed.
If that were to happen, the most likely scenario would be for all first knockout round matches to be played overseas to ensure that no club gets home advantage. Relevent Sports’ experience of staging high-profile European matches in the US would put the company in a strong position to tender for contracts. The company has refused to comment.
Ed Woodward, Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman, was among five club officials involved in the talks but United insiders insist that they are strongly opposed to any breakaway from the Champions League or Premier League or any major change to the footballing landscape.
Arsenal said that they were also opposed to any breakaway. A club spokesman said: “Not Arsenal, nor any clubs at the meeting, are seeking changes to the Premier League and European landscape and no conversations surrounding displacing the Premier League or starting a European Super League took place.”
Another club insider said that guaranteeing places for the top four or five English clubs in the Champions League would destroy the competitiveness of the Premier League and have a potentially calamitous effect on the top flight, which remains by far their most important generator of revenue.
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However, European clubs, wary of the financial power of the Premier League, enhanced by the new £8.3 billion TV rights deal that will come into effect next season, are looking at ways of increasing their revenue streams.
Pedro Pinto, a Uefa spokesman, said: “We are in no way spooked by the speculation surrounding the future of our club competitions.
“We have an excellent relationship with the ECA and there is constant dialogue with the clubs. Their views will be an important part of the process if or when we decide to evolve the format of the Champions League.”
Land tycoon behind plan
Profile: Stephen Ross
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Breakaway or not, Stephen Ross has arguably already created a separate and hugely lucrative tournament for Europe’s leading clubs. It was Ross who had the vision to use these clubs to tap the vast well of interest in football in the United States.
Ross made his fortune in real estate but his venture into sport came in 2008 when he took a stake in the Miami Dolphins . He became the NFL team’s majority shareholder the next year. In 2012, Ross joined forces with Matt Higgins, the former New York Jets executive, to create RSE Ventures and Relevent Sports, its offshoot, which set up the International Champions Cup for Europe’s top clubs to play in North America and other parts of the world. RSE Ventures also formed Catalyst Media Group to sell TV rights to the tournament and these were taken up by more than 150 countries.