Sigh
One major TV broadcaster is hoping to convince the Premier League to play two of its opening day games in the US.
Names in TV are publicly trying to get “Manchester United vs Chelsea” played in New York and Premier League chief executive Richard Masters hasn’t ruled out the idea.
Masters did say however that there were other things to prioritise first and that it wouldn’t be first on the agenda.
Football on the rise in the US
Year by year football has continued to grow over the pond and the MLS is now considered to be one of the better leagues in world football.
The arrival of Lionel Messi has certainly helped to attract a new generation of fans while the franchises across the country have plenty of high-profile names among their ranks.
Over 2.5m watched Manchester City vs Arsenal in the US in a game that was dubbed as a potential title decider.
How likely is it to happen?
There’s been plenty of widespread opposition from fans of the club in the UK, and the US, but broadcaster NBC have revealed that talks have taken place.
“We’ve had conversations with the Premier League and they’ve been very open and receptive to listening to me,” NBC president of acquisitions Jon Miller told The Athletic.
“We did the Premier League Summer Series (in pre-season) last year where we had six teams come over; Fulham, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Brentford.
“We had nine games in seven days in five cities around America (and 265,000 fans were in attendance). It was great.”
LaLiga president backs US move
It’s not just the Premier League the US are eyeing up after LaLiga president Javier Tebas pledged his support for moving something of Spain’s domestic games to America, with the 2025-2026 campaign a real possibility.
The Football Supporters Association wrote on X: “We defeated Game 39 in 2008 and we’d attack any attempted revival with a full blown, two feet off the ground, studs to the knee tackle.”
NBC Sports are currently into the second year of their six-year deal to exclusively show Premier League games in the US.
Related links:
- Real Madrid and Barcelona confirm they will play LaLiga games abroad
- Fans blast decision to scrap FA Cup replays and agree it’s ‘unfair on smaller teams’
- People have only just found out that the Champions League will be shown by new broadcasters next season
