Why the Champions League is facing an uncertain future. The European Club Association met earlier this month with Europe's elite club competition on its agenda, while there is evidence to suggest that fans want change. Its president is Karl- Heinz Rummenigge – also the CEO of Bayern Munich. The ECA met earlier this month for its General Assembly in Paris. Overview of Some Future Champions, 1899, with at Turner Classic Movies. MPAA Ratings: Premiere Info: not available Release Date: 1899 Production Date: none available Color/B&W: Distributions Co: American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. SAN DIEGO ACADEMY Weekly Opportunities for Training (Download Calendar to Print) PACKAGES Par Package – Monthly – $. We also offer some amazing opportunities for beginner and intermediate junior golfers to learn in a private and group setting. One of the topics for discussion was the future for its clubs in Uefa’s European club competitions. The ECA renewed last year its three- year Memorandum of Understanding with UEFA covering the participation of its clubs in UEFA competition for the period 2. That deadline is now looming on the horizon and member clubs are in discussion about what might come next. The question is: will it be more of the same again or a European Super League? Before the previous Mo. U - covering 2. 01. Rummenigge threatened to pull ECA clubs out of UEFA’s competitions and start its own unless calls for reform were met. The ECA demanded, among other things, that the international match calendar be truncated and clubs receive fair compensation and insurance payments when players are injured on international duty. Last year, the ECA also signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with UEFA covering the period 2.
As a result of that, two ECA club representatives are due to join the UEFA Executive Committee with full voting rights at the UEFA Congress in May after initially joining with observer status last year. The threat of a rebellion, which would have sunk the Champions League as we know it, delayed. The issue, though, of a European Super League has never truly gone away and is again shaping conversations at the top levels of the European game. UEFA may well run the Champions League but the ECA is a mighty cabal and it is that body, and not solely UEFA, which will decide the future of continental football. The Super League idea is clearly one which Rummenigge supports given how forcefully he has spoken on the subject. As recently as January of this year – at a panel discussion at the Universit. Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint- Germain will again win their respective national leagues at a canter. In Italy, Juventus is getting there too; the club's draw against Bologna on Friday was the first time it dropped points in Serie A since October. Leicester City might well be bucking the trend but the natural order will return to the Premier League sooner rather than later – with Manchester City and Chelsea on top and Arsenal and Manchester United following closely after. The season there is a freak. By taking selected super clubs continental, the ECA envisages an NFL- style bonanza which pits the best against the best – week after week – and ensures massive incomes all round. ECA clubs must look across the Atlantic and weep with jealousy. All 3. 2 NFL franchises appear on the Forbes list of the 5. The current NFL television deals are together worth around $5 billion per season. That is the kind of booty Rummenigge and the ECA want to access. England’s Premier League is leading the way in television money and there is simply no chance of any other national league ever matching its current . That contract, signed last year, means that clubs finishing 2. Premier League from next season on will be entitled to some . Winning the Champions League currently brings in a maximum of around . Those sums cheapen the honor of being kings of Europe. It’s not that money should be halted in the Premier League but clubs outside England need a way to conjure similar sums. We discuss modifications, amendments, changes or improvements that we could make. This is the phase where we are now. The process will last six to nine months maximum but it is clear we have to take into account all the measures to make it more and more attractive. We will listen to the main actors of the competition and UEFA itself and find out what is best. It may be just a slight change to the access list; it may be many aspects of the competition that can be reviewed and adjusted. Whether it would be a replacement for the Champions League as a continental competition to sit alongside domestic leagues or else a supranational league which would remove the elite clubs altogether from their domestic surroundings permanently is still up for debate. Whatever happens down the line, the “slight change to the access list” could be the first step towards locking in the big teams. Talk is already swirling around that certain clubs will be guaranteed participation to the group stages of a reformed tournament at the expense of those outside the elite band. The likes of Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Ajax, Porto – these are huge brand names, huge clubs with great histories and great global fan bases. And there’s the possibility that some may try and limit or remove their access to the Champions League.” There are suggestions, therefore, that the clubs at the top of the pyramid are unhappy with the current set- up. They want more high- impact matches and more money and it might just be that supporters would like a change now too. Talking to fans has brought the realization that they have grown weary of the elite clubs steam rolling the group stages with few genuinely meaningful fixtures, of a seeded knockout draw which prevents the heavyweights meeting early and of the drawn- out format which means action takes an age to complete. The current viewing figures echo that. The Champions League, evidently, is losing its grip on popular consciousness, especially in England where domestic matches remain a far bigger draw. To compound that reality, a recent report in the The Telegraph revealed that the decision to move Champions League coverage from terrestrial broadcaster ITV and subscription channel Sky Sports to BT Sport in a . Around 4. 5 million people combined watched the Champions League playoff games broadcast last season on ITV and Sky Sports. For a comparable match this season, Manchester United’s playoff matches against Club Brugge, the average peak viewing numbers sunk to around one million on BT Sport’s free Showcase channel and European football channel. Around five million people combined watched the final on ITV and Sky Sports in the UK last season; time will tell how BT’s figures stack up against that. That five million figure pales in comparison to when an English side was last in the final. Around 9. 7 million tuned in to watch Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties in 2. There is no replacement for native success but there is no real financial necessity for English clubs to prioritize the Champions League given the disparity in income in that competition and what’s on offer at home. UEFA has faced down this kind of threat before with drastic implications for what once was a straight up champions- versus- champions knockout competition. Back in 1. 98. 7, Real Madrid and Napoli were drawn together in the first round of the European Cup. One of the richest television territories for the competition was about to lose its representative. It was decided that more would have to be done to safeguard the progress of the most lucrative teams. Hence, the Champions League was born and the carve up began. The Champions League was expanded in line with clubs' wishes in 1. UEFA recognized the threat posed by the mooted Media Partners super league. Using the Italian company's interest in a breakaway as leverage, the biggest clubs in Europe initiated an expanded tournament. Again, the threat worked. But how long is it sustainable? For European clubs who see even England’s mediocre teams grow richer and richer? For the fans who would dearly love to see more compelling matches? For Uefa which has to appease its biggest clubs at every turn? A UEFA spokesperson told Goal: . There are no concrete proposals on the table at this stage as we have just begun a new three- year cycle (2. Whatever method is used to decide which two teams play in the final come early summer is largely irrelevant. What it’s about is that night, that trophy. There have been tweaks to the format in the past – for better for worse – but the team who goes home with the cup is classified as the best in Europe. Whether one of those ECA clubs are crowned champions beyond 2. Champions League, a Super League, with or without UEFA, well, we’ll find out soon enough. 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