The Soccer Thread (Version 8)

The Big Six remain the Big Six. Leicester and Burnley battle for seventh place. In other words, order has been restored in the EPL.

 

Why is there no crying about salary caps in the EPL? The Big Six is pretty much the same every year. The small market teams have no chance. Shouldn't there be more crying from the small market teams and the fans about a level playing field?

 

One was enough! Escaped with a W.

 

There is some of that in the press, but paradoxically, the EU labor laws would prevent such a thing from happening. All UEFA provides are very limited caps on the number of foreigners a team can dress for games. Brexit or no, if the Premier League didn't exceed, let alone match, continental salaries, they'd soon be devoid of foreign players of merit.

 

Caps on the number of foreigners has nothing to do with the money the big teams can afford to spend. And it's also not just the EPL. Every season in La Liga, how many teams can compete with Real and Barca? Yet people still seem to watch those games.

 

There's a lot of talent in the rest of La Liga and Atletico and Sevilla would certainly take issue with the idea they're outclassed.
PS: Since I'd guess over 98 percent of this board would admit they have already conceded the Patriots their sixth Super Bowl championship in 18 years, it takes some nerve to fret about a lack of competition in other sports and other countries.

 

One of the great things about the promotion/relegation system is that even though there are dominant clubs, all the games still matter. Top four matters for Champions League. Fifth and six matter for Europa. Bottom three get relegated. (And this season it's tight in the bottom half.) Someone like me, I know Burnley are never going to win the league. But I consider a season when they stay up to be a victory, and this year I got to dream for a while that they'd qualify for Europe.

It's not just about winning the league. There is so much else to play for.

 

And every season how many teams have a real chance to win the EPL or La Liga? And how is it that the fans do not cry about a salary cap the way some fans of small market teams in MLB do?

 

I can't answer your second question. I don't complain because I know the deal. It's getting worse, possibly, but every season of Premier League footy that I can remember, there have maybe been four clubs with a real chance of winning the league. (This is a particularly bad year. I think I posted here in October that City had won the league.) That's not ideal, but it's how it is, and like I said, there are lots of other reasons to keep my interest. For me, the promotion/relegation system solves a lot of the problems that befall MLB, say. There are very, very few games that could be properly called "meaningless."

 

Also, all of this serves to remind us what a miracle Leicester's table win was. I mean, that was basically impossible.

 

Just staying in the top flight is a major victory for the 7th through 17th teams in the EPL. They get loads of money just being in it. Even the teams that drop get a huge parachute payment.

 

Not much different from FBS football or D-I hoops. A lot of have nots, yet people find satisfaction in conference championships, rivalry wins, NCAA berths, bowl wins.

And people still watch.