It appears that we do have to operate under the pretence that the ESL was all about improving the game for everyone rather than the reality of the 12 clubs looking to line their own pockets.
One of the regular arguments we’ve heard is that there’s just no appetite for the domestic game anymore, so pitting the biggest teams against each other every week will bring in the 16-24 year olds who seemingly are unable to concentrate on the mundanity of La Liga or the Premier League.
Unfortunately we do live in a time where those in power prefer to run their own agendas rather than following any kind of data, so it’s interesting to look at some recent viewing figures.
READ MORE: Real Madrid President Florentino Perez proposes an even more extreme ESL alteration as he seeks to destroy football
The whole concept of the ESL would have you believe that general viewing figures were down, while these games between Europe’s elite will be off the charts and that leads to the argument that we need to have them every single week.
A report from Marca shows that doesn’t seem to be the case at all, as the recent game between Real Madrid and Liverpool only added 100k more fans to the figures when compared to a domestic game between Barca and Real Valladolid.
Perhaps Valladolid have a sizeable hidden fanbase which has altered the figures, but this does appear to rubbish those claims that fans only want to watch the biggest games.
It seems fairer to say that genuine fans would love to watch their team no matter what, but that doesn’t help someone like Florentino Perez make money and that leads to the situation we’ve seen this week.
Again we are waiting for a credible argument in favour of the ESL which doesn’t revolve around finances….