New European football Super League: What was it and what would it have meant to football and TV broadcasting?

The new European football Super League was a new competition originally created by 12 elite football teams, including six teams from the Premier League. The league consisted of 20 clubs, of which 15 teams were co-founders. The last five would have gotten a place via annual qualifications. It would have started with two groups of 10 teams, and each team would have met the other teams in the group at home and away.

After the teams had met in the group stage, four teams from each group would have advanced to the playoffs, starting with quarter-finals.

For many fans, it would have been interesting to see what subscriptions would have to be taken out in the future to follow all the football events. In addition to that, it would have been necessary to answer the question “Who will broadcast the Super Europa League in the future?”.

Super League: The teams

On April 19, 12 teams had confirmed their participation as founders and governing body at the new tournament. Furthermore, there were supposed to be to three unconfirmed clubs, who would have become permanent participants.

The following teams were originally part of the Super League:

Arsenal
Chelsea
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Tottenham
AC Milan
Inter
Juventus
Atletico Madrid
Barcelona
Real Madrid

When was the new European football Super League supposed to start?

The tournament was scheduled to start in August 2021. The top three from each group would have qualified for the quarterfinals, while the teams in fourth and fifth place would have entered the playoffs for the last quarterfinal place. The matches would have been played in midweek so that the clubs could have played in the domestic league on the weekends.

In the quarterfinals and semifinals, the teams would have met at home and away. On the contrary, the final would have been just one match at a predetermined, neutral location. It would have taken place in May.

How would this affect other competitions?

If the Super League will be introduced at some point in the future, there may be tremendous impacts on European football. First and foremost, teams in the new European football Super League could be banned from the domestic leagues, Champions League, Europa League and the new Europa Conference League. It could also lead to players in the Super League being refused to play for national teams in the European Football Championship and the World Cup.

The level of the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A would decrease dramatically. If it turns out that clubs such as Bayern Munich, Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain come in as founders, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 would also maintain a lower level, as long as the clubs are banned.

Although there are many good teams around Europe, the participants are without doubts some of the biggest. Of course, the quality of football in the Champions League and Europa League would not be the same as before.

The richest get richer

Only Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Dortmund are within the top 14 richest clubs who were not amongst the original founders of the Super League. AC Milan is a bit further down on the list and can be seen as the “poorest” club.

1. Barcelona – € 715.1
2. Real Madrid – € 691.8
3. Bayern Munich – € 634.1
4. Man United – € 580.4
5. Liverpool – € 558.6
6. Man City – € 549.2
7. PSG – € 540.6
8. Chelsea – € 469.7
9. Tottenham – € 445.7
10. Juventus – € 397.9
11. Arsenal – € 388.0
12. Dortmund – € 365.7
13. Atletico Madrid – € 331.8
14. Inter – € 291.5

30. AC Milan – € 148.5

Source: Deloitte Money League

Who is in control of the Super League?

Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez is chairman.

There are four deputy leaders in the Super League:
Andrea Agnelli is the chairman of Juventus
Joel Glazer is co-chairman of Manchester United
John W. Henry is the director of Liverpool
Stan Kroenke is the owner of Arsenal

What would the new European football Super League have meant for live football?

A new competition would have almost certainly also meant a new subscription that people would have to subscribe to in order to watch the Super League on television. Adding to that, fans feared that the new Super League could have become the most expensive format ever. This is despite the announcement that the league was created for the good of football and the fans.

At the same time, other competitions, especially the Champions League, would have lost some of their appeal. The UEFA could have been forced to reduce the prices of its products due to lower demand. This could have also prompted the TV broadcasters, who had secured the respective rights, to lower the prices for the end consumer.

In many cases, however, this would have been only be the case in a few years’ time, as countless TV contracts had already been concluded for the upcoming seasons. BT Sport, for example, is the exclusive broadcaster of the Champions League until 2024. It would have remained to be seen to what extent the TV rights contracts had contained clauses that allow rights holders to withdraw from them.