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Why cant top flight domestic leagues have more parity amongst its member teams?
Look at French Ligue 1 or La Liga in Spain. It is ridiculous. Its just PSG, or Barca, or Real. Sometimes Atletico can challenge. It is kind of silly.
Premier League and Serie A are a bit better. I think Bundesliga is bad too actually.
Why dont they just make UEFA Champions league an actually league then?
What can be dont about La Liga, and Ligue 1's lack of parity? There is like no point in even playing in those leagues unless you are Barca, PSG, or Real Madrid. It is like College vs NFL.
That has no stopped small US cities from fielding competitive teams in various sports like Cleveland, Green Bay, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Boston. Even Canadien hockey teams can compete even if they dont win it.
Plus NYC, and SoCal have some sucky teams like the Knicks, Nets, Jets, Chargers, Rams, Clippers,
That has no stopped small US cities from fielding competitive teams in various sports like Cleveland, Green Bay, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Boston. Even Canadien hockey teams can compete even if they dont win it.
Plus NYC, and SoCal have some sucky teams like the Knicks, Nets, Jets, Chargers, Rams, Clippers,
But the US sports system is almost communist. No relegation of crappy teams, first draft to the worst losers, equal distribution of money.
Blame European Union, the Treaty of Schengen and "Bosman Law"
back then, untill the early 90s, political borders de facto used to narrow the the chance for big teams to enroll the best players from abroad thus avoiding a large gap between the top clubs and the rest.
Once that barrier collapsed the richest clubs begun to see their profit skyrocketing and they became no match for the regular teams.
Why cant top flight domestic leagues have more parity amongst its member teams?
Look at French Ligue 1 or La Liga in Spain. It is ridiculous. Its just PSG, or Barca, or Real. Sometimes Atletico can challenge. It is kind of silly.
Premier League and Serie A are a bit better. I think Bundesliga is bad too actually.
Why dont they just make UEFA Champions league an actually league then?
What can be dont about La Liga, and Ligue 1's lack of parity? There is like no point in even playing in those leagues unless you are Barca, PSG, or Real Madrid. It is like College vs NFL.
Money, money and money. European soccer features lopsided leagues all around - Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and England are all top heavy. Very few clubs in each league (probably 5 maybe 6) have a realistic shot of winning the title each year and those clubs tend to be the same clubs over and over. Compare the Premiere League to baseball for example. If Chelsea wants to pluck an up and coming talent from say Norwich, or Stoke, all they have to do is open their check book and the player is theirs. Compare that to say MLB in the US. If the Dodgers want to grab an up and coming player from say the Marlins, they need to give up actual player assets within their organization - which could mean prospects, draft picks and players on their current roster. So that requires more strategy than simply writing a check and it also (in theory) are level, or close to it as far as player asset shifts.
It's very interesting seeing teams in Europe cheering staying about the relegation zone, as if finishing 17th in the Premiere League is a success.
You would have to enact some sort of salary cap and transfer rules in order to make the league more competitive.
US sports are communist
Profit sharing, last place gets 1st draft, salary cap, etc
Soccer is capitalist
No profit sharing, last team doesn't play in the league the following year, team with most money gets best player.
But you know what's cool about soccer?
When a small team beats a big team
It's like winning a championship
and you know what?
it's not been happening for so long now...
Real, Barça and Bayern are on another planet
untill the late 90s this wasn't the case at all...
the most entertaining and unpredictable league is the English one, where they share profits...
It's hilarious that there are people who call football/soccer "socialist/communist" when the domestic league structures in many countries tend to be a carbon copy of dog-eat-dog capitalism in the real world in ways that make die hard "free market" ideologues smile! I think the only way to have more parity is to actually go more "socialist/communist", which is the way the major sports leagues in the USA operate! LOL!
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