We are now into spring on the sports calendar, knocking in the door of a busy sports summer. Here in the United States, it means the playoffs are on in the NBA and NHL, baseball is its early stages of its season, and other things as well. But outside of America, football is heading towards the end of its season as well. That is, association football, better known as soccer. Last year, we had a World Cup that captivated the attention of both the world and America, and thanks to one of the best WC tournaments ever and the popularity of the U.S. National Team during their run, interest in the world's most popular sport in the world's largest country is at an all-time high, and is destined to only grow.
But soccer in America was just on the cusp of mainstream popularity even before the kickoff of Brazil 2014, and before & since the sport has never been widely popular than ever here. There's been increased viewership and exposure in properties large & small from the UEFA Champions League and the European leagues, to Major League Soccer, Mexico's Liga MX and more. But the greatest success story in soccer's huge growth over the past year belongs to its biggest year-round property.
There's no doubt...it is the world's most prestigious year-round soccer brand, the most-watched sports league on earth and the greatest contribution to the international sports spectrum by the jolly old folks of the United Kingdom. The Premier League - the Barclays Premier League as its sponsored name or simply English Premier League outside of Great Britain - is the epitome of the world game at its very best. It's the glitz and glamour of football's greatest players playing every week in stadiums rich in history, in a nation that pioneered the sport and its professional model, and in front of fans that worship the game that has made the top flight division of the English football pyramid the biggest draw to soccer fans everywhere.
The Premier League is the world's most-watched soccer/football league, beamed by 80 different broadcasters to 212 territories, 650 million homes and a potential viewing audience of 4.7 billion people. It ranks as one of the world's most-attended sports competitions, with an average attendance per game at over 30,000. The world's greatest players play every week: from Wayne Rooney and Sergio Augero, to Robin Van Persie and Tim Howard, all representing 70 nations joining homegrown talent in England. Many of soccer's most famous clubs play in the EPL, and thanks to its equalized revenue distribution model, has provided some of the most competitive, unpredictable and exciting action anywhere, especially with chances at glory and heartache at every corner.
HISTORY
On Mother's Day last May, the 2013-14 season reached its climax with the final day of the season where every team in the league is in action, and all of them playing at the same time - 3pm in England and 10am ET/7am PT in America. For the 2nd time in three years - and 7th overall in the 22 years since the Premier League began play in 1992, the title was up for grabs on the final day with it having not been decided. And when the dust settled that evening in England and midday here, Manchester City lifted the Premier League trophy and was crowned champions of England in one of the closest title races in English football history, besting Liverpool by a few points at the top of the league table. And as the 2014-15 season nears its conclusion, interest in America in the BPL is greater than ever, evidenced by some of the most-watched EPL matches ever on U.S. TV taking place during this season.
This road for the English Premier League to becoming the most-popular league of its kind has been a long one, even for one that is actually considered a young adult having been formed in 1992 to take over as the top flight league in the English professional football pyramid. Summer of that year marked the end of the 104 years of the original Football League which had operated with four divisions instead of three. And it took for a number of events in the decade many of its fans were born, and back when the sport wasn't as popular in the U.S., to make the Premier League as we know it possible.
In the 1980s, three tragedies struck at the core of English soccer & sent signals for change: in May 1985, 56 fans died when a fire broke out at Bradford City stadium during the final game of their team's Second Division title season. Later that month, the European Cup final between Liverpool and Italian club Juventus saw violence break out between rival supporters, led to nearly 40 deaths and a 5-year ban on English clubs in European club competition. And if things couldn't get any worse, four years later 96 fans perished & hundreds were hurt at an FA Cup semifinal in Hillsborough when limited security led to a stadium standing terrace becoming overcrowded. Combined with hooliganism and top English players being lured by other European leagues, English football was in a serious identity crisis, and a radical move had to be done for the nation's favorite pastime to make a 180.
Then, Arsenal's dramatic last-minute win over Liverpool to win the 1989 League title by goal difference, England making it to the 1990 FIFA World Cup semis and UEFA's ban on English teams being lifted in time for Manchester United's 1991 Cup Winners Cup win. It was with this backdrop of renewed interest that the Football League's First Division clubs all resigned en masse in 1992 to form The F.A. Premier League, which kicked off that August. The Founder Members Agreement, signed by the game's top-flight clubs and with help from executives of British network ITV, saw the then-top 22 teams in the land gain commercial independence from the Football Association and Football League. This included the freedom to negotiate its own independent broadcast & sponsorship deals, whereas it previously had to share revenue with each of the other clubs in the then four-tier pyramid of The Football League.
It's no surprise that the Premier League has the highest revenue of any football league in the world with annual club revenues at around €2.5 billion. In the same manner as the NFL here, the EPL can owe much of its remarkable growth to television, and the revenue generated from broadcast deals with networks in Britain & around the world, including the U.S. deal with NBC that brought the league to the peacock in 2013, has been vital to the league's popularity. The bold, radical gamble to move live League matches from free-to-air (and the likes of the BBC & ITV) to pay TV & British broadcaster Sky (owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation), something of a recent trend here, was a big deal in a country where cable TV hadn't yet clicked with the British public. But in the long term, that move has paid big dividends thanks to the high caliber of play on the field, the appetite & devotion of its fans and the marketing of Fox's sister broadcaster across the pond. Total broadcast revenue has grown from a $400 million check Sky paid the EPL in 1992, to now easily into the billions per season, both British and overseas. And as with the case with the NFL, all 20 teams collectively share in that revenue.
It's no surprise that the Premier League has the highest revenue of any football league in the world with annual club revenues at around €2.5 billion. In the same manner as the NFL here, the EPL can owe much of its remarkable growth to television, and the revenue generated from broadcast deals with networks in Britain & around the world, including the U.S. deal with NBC that brought the league to the peacock in 2013, has been vital to the league's popularity. The bold, radical gamble to move live League matches from free-to-air (and the likes of the BBC & ITV) to pay TV & British broadcaster Sky (owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation), something of a recent trend here, was a big deal in a country where cable TV hadn't yet clicked with the British public. But in the long term, that move has paid big dividends thanks to the high caliber of play on the field, the appetite & devotion of its fans and the marketing of Fox's sister broadcaster across the pond. Total broadcast revenue has grown from a $400 million check Sky paid the EPL in 1992, to now easily into the billions per season, both British and overseas. And as with the case with the NFL, all 20 teams collectively share in that revenue.
Plus, the league signed numerous deals with other broadcasters and numerous sponsors to help finance the league and its teams. And that money also helped reverse a trend of players moving to other leagues, both elsewhere in Europe and overseas, and increasingly made the English top flight much more competitive with other leagues. Over time, the EPL's ranking in UEFA's league coefficient has skyrocketed to where it now ranks either 1st or a competitive 2nd/3rd in how clubs have performed in Europe in recent seasons. Plus as a result of an inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster, the government recommended that all clubs in the top two leagues in English football convert their stadiums into all-seater stadiums. Some teams moved from long-standing grounds into brand-new facilities, while others conformed to this order by expanding their existing grounds.
THE TEAMS
The clubs who play in the EPL are no doubt among the most-popular teams in not just soccer, but of course in any sport anywhere.
- Manchester United are the most popular team, whether fans like it or not, owing to the team winning 13 EPL titles under their now-retired manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. They have the country's biggest club stadium - Old Trafford (nearly 90,000) - and the largest fan base. The Red Devils' trophy case also includes an additional few FL D1 titles, several FA Cups and three European titles, including the Treble in 1999. There in the UCL final vs. Bayern Munich, United came back from a goal down late to score twice in stoppage time to complete the League/Cup/Euro triple crown.
- Liverpool is English soccer's 2nd most successful club, with 18 league titles (including 7 between '76-84). And though they've won none in the EPL era--and came close to winning it in 2014 for captain & now LA Galaxy-bound Stephen Gerrard, they've still won many domestic & European trophies including five Champions League titles. Owned by the same New England group that owns the Boston Red Sox (Fenway Sports Group), they also have a stirring pre-game tradition at home matches at Anfield of supporters reciting the club anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone."
- Arsenal is one of two major clubs based in London, and now has the EPL's longest-tenured manager in Frenchman Arsene Wenger (since 1996). The Gunners have 13 top-flight titles, 11 domestic cups and 2 European titles to their credit, the most notable being in 2004 when they became the first team in the modern era to win a top-flight title without losing a single match earning the title The Invincibles. After enduring a ten-year trophy drought, they snapped it in the 2014 F.A. Cup Final and will look to defend their crown the end of May at Wembley.
- The team who will win the 2015 EPL title is Chelsea, who are also based in London and are relative newcomers to the top echelon of English football following a checkered past. Prior to 2005, they had last won a league title 50 years earlier, but after winning that title, the Blues have collected four additional EPL titles and the 2012 Champions League trophy. Their run of success coincided with Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich buying the club in summer 2003.
- The EPL's new power is Manchester City, who have long lived in the shadow of their cross-town rivals but a purchase in 2008 by the rich Abu Dhabi Royal Family has breathed new life to the club. Their investment paid off in City winning the 2011 FA Cup followed by their dramatic last-minute comeback in scoring two goals in stoppage time to edge out United by the goal difference tiebreaker to snatch the 2012 EPL title. They added the 2014 League Cup followed by the EPL title later on.
- Other popular clubs include Everton (home club to 2014 USMNT goalkeeper & part time NBC EPL analyst Tim Howard), Tottenham Hotspur (the club featured in NBC's EPL featurette featuring SNL's Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso), Aston Villa, Newcastle United and West Ham United.
Like the NBA, there's also criticism of a gap between the Premier League's elite super clubs and the rest of the league due to their increasing ability to spend more than their rivals. Over the past decade, the "Big Four" of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United dominated the top four spots in the EPL table, which guarantees qualification into the next season's UEFA Champions League in addition to those teams (save Liverpool) taking turns lifting the EPL trophy. In recent seasons, Spurs and Man City have cracked the top four to join them in Europe, and City's two titles in three years made them the first non-Top Four club since Alan Shearer's Blackburn Rovers in '94-95 to win the title. Nonetheless, as pointed out in defense by EPL Chief Executive Richard Scudamore, it's not only the battles at top of the table that appeals to the casual fans; there's other different tussles taking place league wide that brings fans everywhere to the Premier League, just as it is in the NFL.
Like the NBA, there's also criticism of a gap between the Premier League's elite super clubs and the rest of the league due to their increasing ability to spend more than their rivals. Over the past decade, the "Big Four" of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United dominated the top four spots in the EPL table, which guarantees qualification into the next season's UEFA Champions League in addition to those teams (save Liverpool) taking turns lifting the EPL trophy. In recent seasons, Spurs and Man City have cracked the top four to join them in Europe, and City's two titles in three years made them the first non-Top Four club since Alan Shearer's Blackburn Rovers in '94-95 to win the title. Nonetheless, as pointed out in defense by EPL Chief Executive Richard Scudamore, it's not only the battles at top of the table that appeals to the casual fans; there's other different tussles taking place league wide that brings fans everywhere to the Premier League, just as it is in the NFL.
THINGS TO KNOW...
Then, there's what you need to know. Those clubs above are part of a league of 20 teams, who all play a double round-robin of playing each other twice, once at home and the other away - or on the road. That's a total of 38 games; it's more than double what the NFL has and nearly half of the NBA schedule, but those who go to every home match see all the teams in the EPL, just like what we have in the Association. And the premise is simple: accumulate the most points from the 38 matches (3 pts. for a win, 1 pt. for a draw, 0 for a loss), and you lift the Premier League trophy at season's end. As mentioned above, the top-four teams automatically qualifies for the UEFA Champions League: three into group play and a 4th into the wild card playoffs. The team that finishes 5th qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, and can be joined by up to 3 other teams depending upon the FA or League Cup and Fair Play standings.
Unlike Major League Soccer and the other American sports leagues, there's no system in place for a postseason tournament to determine the EPL champion. But the scenario that almost played out at the end of 2013-14 is that if two teams are tied on points for the title, a European qualification place or in the relegation zone, the tiebreaker is goal difference (goals scored for and goals against), then total goals scored. In the rarest of cases that they should be tied in all three counts and the places are for the title, European qualification or relegation, a neutral-site playoff game will take place (like the one that determined the Ivy League basketball champion at the end of this season), though it has not been used yet. Otherwise, they'll simply be given equal placing in the final league table.
Speaking of relegation, the three teams that are in the dreaded 18th, 19th & 20th spots in the table are relegated down to the second tier of English football, the Football League Championship. The champion and runner-up in what was the new First Division (2nd Division before '92) automatically win EPL promotion, while the four sides placed 3rd to 6th then square off in two-legged playoff semifinals, with the two winners then playing a one-game winner-take-all final at Wembley Stadium for the right to play in the top-flight. The teams who win receive the spoils of playing with the big boys while the losers receive all the gate revenue as compensation for missing out. The introduction of the playoffs in the 80's helped rejuvenate interest the lower divisions.
The scheduling of matches on a week-to-week basis in the Premier League is structured in very much the same way as the NFL: consistent match windows for each regular week in the league, for they like to call their league schedule the "fixture." The weekend's first game is played on Saturday at 12:45 PM British time...lunchtime in England or 7:45AM breakfast time in New York, or 4:45AM in Los Angeles. It's followed by the numerous matches across the entire English football pyramid (including the FL Championship and Leagues 1 & 2) that kick off at the traditional time of 3PM (10AM ET/7AM PT). Then comes the Saturday night match at 5:30PM (12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT), followed by two & sometimes 3 Sunday games (1:30PM & 4PM BT/8:30AM & 11AM ET) which, save for the fall back daylight savings switch, end just before the 1PM NFL games.
There's also some matches on Monday night and some mid-week Tuesday & Wednesday night games carried over by postponements and fixture confusion as Cup and European matches take precedent. With the next EPL TV deal that goes into effect in 2016, a Friday night game will be added, partly to satisfy rightsholders for reasons to be explained below. Like the NBA with their annual big games on Christmas Day, the EPL also has its own Yuletide tradition of playing a full day of matches on the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, on December 26th; and it also plays a full match schedule on New Year's Day, much like the college bowl games and the NHL Winter Classic.
And on the final day of the season, which this year falls on May 24 (Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. and on Indy 500 day), all ten matches kick off simultaneously with all 20 teams playing at the same time. Often, relegation places are decided with threatened teams' hopes of staying in the top flight hanging in the balance by what happens at other matches elsewhere. And sometimes, as was the case with Man City's two titles, the champion is decided on the last Sunday, which has provided for some of the biggest drama in recent memory. Thus, this last day has been given the two titles "Survival Sunday" and "Championship Sunday."
And on the final day of the season, which this year falls on May 24 (Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. and on Indy 500 day), all ten matches kick off simultaneously with all 20 teams playing at the same time. Often, relegation places are decided with threatened teams' hopes of staying in the top flight hanging in the balance by what happens at other matches elsewhere. And sometimes, as was the case with Man City's two titles, the champion is decided on the last Sunday, which has provided for some of the biggest drama in recent memory. Thus, this last day has been given the two titles "Survival Sunday" and "Championship Sunday."
And when teams from particular regions play one another, it's always a must-watch. Here in America, we call it cross-town rivalries, while in Britain and in soccer lingo they call it "derbies."
The most famous derby of recent times has been the Manchester derby between Manchester United and Manchester City, which thanks to United's consistent dominance and City's emergence culminating in the upstarts winning the 2012 title over United on goal difference, has become the two biggest matches of the season, which produced a record U.S. EPL viewing audience this season.
- In the capital city, there's the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur; any West London derby involving Chelsea, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and Brentford; and of course fellow London clubs Arsenal and Chelsea.
- Elsewhere, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion contest the West Midlands Derby; Everton vs Liverpool in the Merseyside derby; Liverpool and Manchester United in the North West Derby; Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle play each other in numerous derbies in the Tyne-Tees-Wear area, and intersectional ones like Arsenal-Manchester United.
For us here across the pond, NBC's tide-changing deal allows us to have the luxury of having something the folks in England don't have. For years, every game in the NFL season from the Hall of Fame Game to the Super Bowl is televised and seen free-to-air on the major networks (plus cable games in competing markets). While the peacock shows every game live on NBCSN, NBC, its family of channels, or Extra Time overflow package (and online too), in Britain, it's a much different story and it's something that we here will probably won't believe. Of the 380 games in the entire season, not every game is shown live on British television, and rights holders Sky Sports & BT Sport are actually very picky when it comes to placing games at those aforementioned times listed above.
The perpetrator for this lack of complete live U.K. match coverage is a federally-mandated blackout in place since the 1960's that Saturday 3PM matches can't be broadcast live in Britain, outside of the cup competitions. This is done to ensure attendance at games at all levels of the league pyramid, other non-league games that might not be televised, and protect the gate revenues of all of those clubs. Imagine what it's like being in a blackout-prone NFL market with no game on?
For that matter, the games that aren't chosen by Sky or BT to air live are then shown on a tape delayed basis on the revered BBC highlight show Match of the Day late on Saturday nights, or in primetime that night on Sky Sports. MOTD (with its famed "Offside" theme) is also the only time Premier League match footage is broadcast on free-to-air television for those who don't have a Sky or cable subscription. And for fans who want to follow the 3PM games in action but aren't at the ground, they can look to Sky's Soccer Saturday (with host Jeff Sterling and his hilarious panel) and the BBC's Final Score for updates and goal flashes from all the games, but don't show any footage of the goals, which is a total 180 from the NFL RedZone channel back here.
Sometimes you can be lucky to have something another doesn't have, and we are fortunate here. It's the first time that every EPL match has been made available live for fans anywhere to watch to be seen on television or via an authentic live stream to participating cable and satellite customers. And it's because of the Premier League's ability to show "every match, every team, every week" here that has contributed to the enormous interest in the league here.
Finally, there's the prizes that await the winners - the ones Chelsea will have in their possession at the end of their final match on Sunday. As in FIFA events and though not perhaps as coveted as winning an Olympic gold medal, the Premier League awards winner's medals to the manager, officials and every player on a team who plays in a minimum number of games - 5, a'la the requirement for a player's name to be etched on the Stanley Cup. A total of 190 different players from 39 different countries have Premier League medals in their award case - the most to longtime Man United stalwart Ryan Giggs with all 13 of its EPL titles, but only one is from North America: that being Mexico's Javier Hernandez in 2011.
But it's the award that EPL players dream of when they join the league: the Premier League trophy, clad in sterling silver, silver gilt and malachite. The League maintains two in both a genuine cup and a back-up replica; the reason being that being if two different clubs could win the title on the season's last day - i.e. the Manchester battle in 2012. Weighing 22 pounds with an 11-pound base, the trophy's design emphasizes the heraldic symbol of English football of the Three Lions: two are on both handles of the cup, the third by the gold crown by the captain of the champions of England when he raises the trophy at season's end. It's that trophy lift that confirms the team who has gone through 38 games and a full season to get to their position as winners of the biggest soccer league on earth.
For myself, the Premier League has become a staple in my sporting passion, much in the same way that I have embraced soccer in recent years. I remember watching the sport off and on over the course of time, and now more and more fans here in America are kicking off their sports weekends with the league that epitomizes the beautiful game. When you have great players from around the world, revered stadiums that are icons in the country that invented the sport and fans who are passionate about all that makes this league great, it's a formula for success that has put the top-flight division of English football in the global pantheon of world sport.
On Sunday, when the 23rd season of the English Premier League comes to its conclusion, the league is bigger and better than ever. More people than ever before are watching this league, both in stadiums across England and Wales, and on TV sets worldwide. There's nothing like it anywhere in the world's game, and perhaps, anywhere in sports.
Make sure to follow my DC Social Network throughout the late spring and summer as I will be staying busy both here on DCBLOG and across my social media platforms.
- First, make sure to follow my secondary twitter account dedicated to live tweets, DCNOW at Twitter @DC408DxNow. There, you'll be front row center with yours truly to the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, NBA Playoffs & Finals, the NHL Stanley Cup, major golf & tennis, baseball, this weekend's Indy 500 and beyond. If you're an MTV fan, I'll be live tweeting the 2nd half of season 4 of Catfish, the revival of America's Best Dance Crew, the Teen Mom franchise (including Monday's OG finale), and of course the VMA's; along with other big entertainment events. And as it is filming as we speak, it leads up to the featured attraction of the fall for myself and some of my fellow MTV fans: Season 3 of the reality dating sensation Are You The One?.
- DCBLOG will be devoting more and more of this site to covering the upcoming Summer of Sports. As both the opening Women's World Cup match and UEFA Champions League final take place on soccer's own Super Saturday next week, we'll have more posts on the world game right here. We'll also look at golf's majors, Wimbledon, NBA, NHL and much more. And perhaps as soon as this Memorial Day Weekend, I'll be joined by fellow MTV fans Andrew Kirk & Brian Cohen as we discuss the recent seasons of the so-called fifth major sport, The Challenge and Real World on a special edition of DC FORUM. As always, catch up on all my MTV Trifecta coverage with my SocialPulse twitter diaries for every episode of those shows.
- And don't forget to follow my primary Twitter handle @DC408Dxtr, my Instagram account also at the same handle, and at Tumblr at dc408dxtr.tumblr.com.
Thanks for checking out this DC Sports look at the phenomenon that is soccer's English Premier League. And be sure to join me on Sunday as I follow Championship Sunday in England, among other events of what will be a busy sports day. Until then, thanks for reading, have fun, see you then and to my U.S. readers, a safe and very Happy Memorial Day Weekend.
- I AM DC
Acknowledgements: PremierLeague.com, Wikipedia: Premier League
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