All about the money?

The Barclay's Premier League. A well packaged footballing product where 20 teams battle it out every season for various rewards such as the championship, a place in UEFA's champions league , the UEFA cup or even avoiding relegation and staying in the premier league. Every other club in england hope for only one thing. A place in the premier league. The richest league in the world. A money making machine and deservedly so , featuring the quickest brand of football and some of the best players in the world.

The League is controlled by the England FA who in my opinion make a lot of questionable decisions from time to time. One such act which falls in to this category is the idea proposed by the FA to hold one extra league match per team outside England. In addition to the 38 matches that the tams play every season they are supposed to play one more match in loctions such as Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Sydney, Johannesburg, Dubai and Beijing.

Nothing wrong in providing good football in areas deprived of it and giving them the premier league experience but this move if it goes through will have huge financial implications. The FA seems to have got this idea when an NFL game was played in the New Wembley recently. But the FA's interests seem nothing but commercial. With the extra game there are 10 league matches played in various locations in the world and a huge amount the profit going to the FA.

Every club wants to play in the premier league and obviously the clubs already there would want to stay there. It is just because of the financial boost these clubs might receive by just managing to stay in the premier league. In such a situation playing one match overseas may have huge implications in the title race. Even though the top five sides will be protected from drawing each other it still makes a world of difference playing a side that is placed sixth and a side that is placed nineteenth in the premier league. But even that is not my concern. Big teams find a way to win irrespective of the opponent. The real concern is the smaller teams who battle year in year out just to stay in the premier league. The financial benefits of playing in the premier league are huge, and this rule may just result that a team might stay in the premier league or get relegated by the luck (or lack of it) of the draw.

Huge profits and commercial success are guaranteed in this venture but its time for the FA to stop looking just at the commercial success of the venture and look at preparing a level playing field for all the teams. Its time the small teams got some sympathy from the FA in a league which is dominated by commercial interests.