WI Champions League mainstays left their leagues over Financial Fair Play rules?

[Alstein]

The POD I'm thinking about was when I think Barcelona and some other clubs considered a Super-League of the top Euro clubs.

What I'm thinking would be the case is:
-franchise system, no promotion/relegation, teams get invited in.
-they would try to continue competing in domestic cups, if national bodies tried to force them to stay in their league, they'd just make their B teams their domestic teams.
-no real financial rules

I'd think these sides would be part of the initial batch
Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Juventus, AC Milan, AS Roma, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Monaco, Paris St Germain, Bayern Munich, Hertha Berlin, Bayer Leverkeusen, CSKA Moscow, Lyon.

16 to start, with expansion as needed- (NY Cosmos perhaps if they wanted an American side, though that would be a disaster? How would such a thing impact MLS- I'm sure LA Galaxy would want to be in as well but would Europe want them given the travel?)

The downside for the clubs is well, they'd lose a lot more since it's CL competition all the time.

I know Rugby in Southern Hemisphere has an international super league with pro/rel, but that seems difficult to make work.

 

[Derwit]

These kind of rumours occur all the time an example being http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-champions-league-says-american-a6911001.html. The big problems is that its heavily opposed by all the national associations and therefore by both UEFA and FIFA. I'm sure I read somewhere that break away clubs players would be barred from international football as a deterrent. Further the loss of domestic league and cup revenues (there zero chance of these clubs being allowed to continue using B teams) would have to be covered in full and more so to make up for the negative publicity for the clubs to commit. There is also the danger that UEFA and the domestic leagues carry on with the old format and it continues to be a success despite losing these clubs leaving the clubs and breakaway league in the wilderness.

Also on a personal note why isn't LIverpool FC on your list of clubs? They may be suffering lean times but they have a great history and one of the largest fan bases in the world. Also no Dutch sides? I was also surprised to see Roma but no Inter and while I'm thinking about it no Dortmund! The reality is that there are too many clubs with good teams with big fan bases and great European pedigree to include them all in a classic league format. Its why there are two effectively knock out competitions to include as many as possible while also allowing new clubs to break in. A super league without relegation/promotion is going to get stale very quickly especially if enough quality is left out to capitalise on the absence of some of the bigger teams. How would a united fan feel seeing their historic record of league wins overtaken by fierce rivals Liverpool and there was nothing they could do about it.

 

[Devvy]

As above - there are so many good teams in Europe to have a single league division. You'd want to have maybe 2 divisions in the league with promotion/relegation between, which would inject some needed competition into it.

However, given the hugely negative reception from the national FAs, UEFA and FIFA, I just can't see it taking off. The English clubs are unlikely to join either given the enormous cash cow and prestige the premier league carries.

 

[Alstein]

These kind of rumours occur all the time an example being http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-champions-league-says-american-a6911001.html. The big problems is that its heavily opposed by all the national associations and therefore by both UEFA and FIFA. I'm sure I read somewhere that break away clubs players would be barred from international football as a deterrent. Further the loss of domestic league and cup revenues (there zero chance of these clubs being allowed to continue using B teams) would have to be covered in full and more so to make up for the negative publicity for the clubs to commit. There is also the danger that UEFA and the domestic leagues carry on with the old format and it continues to be a success despite losing these clubs leaving the clubs and breakaway league in the wilderness.

Also on a personal note why isn't LIverpool FC on your list of clubs? They may be suffering lean times but they have a great history and one of the largest fan bases in the world. Also no Dutch sides? I was also surprised to see Roma but no Inter and while I'm thinking about it no Dortmund! The reality is that there are too many clubs with good teams with big fan bases and great European pedigree to include them all in a classic league format. Its why there are two effectively knock out competitions to include as many as possible while also allowing new clubs to break in. A super league without relegation/promotion is going to get stale very quickly especially if enough quality is left out to capitalise on the absence of some of the bigger teams. How would a united fan feel seeing their historic record of league wins overtaken by fierce rivals Liverpool and there was nothing they could do about it.

You make a good point, Liverpool deserves to be in there- (I'm sure Tottenham would make a case as well).
It might end up being 30-40 teams, especially if international expansion happened. You'd then have a Global League 1 and Global League 2 (I'm sure with this you'd have intercontinental expansion to the US)

The B teams might be unofficial farm teams, like what MLB had before the minors got standardized. Would be difficult to bar those fairly, and they might even be set in other countries- kinda what Red Bull is doing these days.

 

[HawkAussie]

To be honest, I don't think it would happen as the big leagues EPL, La Liga, Serie A wouldn't let those teams go into a Super League which might see a cost to their profits.