How Championship play-off final could tighten US grip on Premier League

The Championship play-off final, which is regarded as the richest game in football, has always been a game of enormous significance with the goal of earning promotion to the Premier League.

The stakes could be even higher this year.

If Sheffield United beat Sunderland on Saturday at Wembley, the level of influence wielded by American investors in the Premier League will reach an unprecedented level, with all three promoted clubs controlled from across the Atlantic.

Amazingly, the Blades would become the 12th US-owned club in the Premier League, making them the closest to the two-thirds of the 14 required changes to the league’s rules.

It may not be long before the tipping point is reached, as a third of EFL clubs are partially or entirely US-owned, and a number of English clubs are available for sale or seeking new investment.

In December Everton became the 10th Premier League club to fall under American control when they were bought by the Texas-based Friedkin Group, joining Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Ipswich Town and Fulham.

Although Ipswich has since since been relegated, the promotion of Burnley (AIK Capital) and Leeds United (owned by the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers) made it possible for Sheffield United (COH Sports) to become top-flight clubs in the future.

The Tampa-based Glazer family set a precedent for other US investors by purchasing Manchester United twenty years ago in a contentious, highly leveraged buyout.

However, those who followed in their footsteps have had little to do with the hundreds of millions of pounds of debt that was imposed on United, the £1 billion it has cost to service it, and the dramatic decline that United has experienced both on and off the field.

to earn money

With most US investors in English football keeping a low profile and attending few matches, the motive seems to be financial rather than reputational.

After launching their teams in English football, former owners of Sunderland, Swansea, and Aston Villa have lost significant sums of money, but others have had much better luck.

The Glazers have made a sizable profit from their ownership of the club, despite the dislike of many United fans, thanks to dividends and the sale of club shares, which have increased in value. Sir Jim Ratcliffe spent £1.25 billion on a 28% stake last year.

Despite their worst season in decades, and hundreds of millions of pounds of financial losses, United were recently rated the second most valuable club in the world at $6bn (£4.4bn).

Due to closed leagues, there are few opportunities to invest in US professional sports, and they are very expensive when they do. This is why the global game of football is appealing, especially given NBC’s coverage of the Premier League, the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series, and the Ted Lasso TV show, which are all generating interest.

Lionel Messi’s participation in the MLS and the USA hosting this year’s Club World Cup and World Cup 2026 will also help the game expand, according to investors.

US investors also believe that more revenue can be extracted from English football, whether through media rights, ticketing or sponsorship.

Former NFL player JJ Watt is one of the US celebrities to join the ranks of British football clubs as a minority investor in Burnley.

He told BBC Sport in March that if you looked at an American football (NFL) team, they were all worth between $ billion and $ billion.

” You come over here (to the UK) and the valuations are different and there’s more opportunity.

“I wanted to be involved, participate in the board meetings, learn and develop, while also contributing to the club’s development by increasing viewership.”

The history, tradition, passion, and supporters are another key element of English football, according to the coach.

According to sport finance expert Christina Philippou, US investors are also” bullish “about the potential of virtual reality technology when it comes to giving fans a match-going experience, without going to the stadium.

During the attempted launch of the European Super League (ESL) in 2021 three American Premier League club owners – Manchester United’s Joel Glazer, Liverpool’s John W Henry and Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke – formed part of the ill-fated organisation’s leadership group.

The breakaway club quickly fell apart after causing a crisis and receiving a lot of fan and club acclaim.

However, it was a clear step in the direction of American pro sports, which operate in closed, franchise-based systems without promotion or relegation, to propose that the founding clubs would have been guaranteed entry to the ESL without having to qualify each year.

That sense of a culture clash with the traditions of the English football pyramid was only reinforced in 2022 when Chelsea’s American co-owner Todd Boehly expressed his hope that the Premier League took” a little bit of a lesson from American sports “in a bid to boost broadcast revenue.

His contentious suggestions included a “north versus south All-Star match” and relegation play-offs.

Gary Neville, a former defender for Manchester United and England, claimed that US investment in English football was “a clear and present danger to the pyramid and the fabric of the game.” They just don’t get it. “

The increasing number of American owners in the Premier League is concerning, according to Niall Couper, CEO of Fair Game. Many people depart from their franchise mindset, which emphasizes profit, closed competition, and commercialization at the expense of the community and tradition.

Amid understandable concerns over the impact their approach may have on ticket prices, stadium naming-rights deals and the possible scrapping of promotion and relegation, do US owners deserve more credit?

Fenway Sports Group’s investment in players, infrastructure, financial management, and recruitment strategy has helped restore the club to its former glory since taking control of Liverpool in 2010.

Concerns over American investors were unfounded, according to Leeds’ American chairman Paraag Marathe, the president of the club’s owners, 49ers Enterprises, in a statement that club owners needed to “protect it” because English football is “special, unique, and rare.” “If it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it”, he said.

Some have suggested that stronger player union representation, salary caps, pre-season drafts, and other factors that have made American leagues more competitive, unpredictable, and sustainable could help English football.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy responded to a question from Premier League owners asking whether she was concerned about the number of US-run clubs in the league. They can be very robust about coming forward with those views, but they also work together in the interest of football as a whole.

So I’m relieved that we have owners from all over the world. It demonstrates that the Premier League is truly a world leader in terms of what we can export to the world.

It would come as no surprise if American Premier League owners made an effort to do the same, especially considering that some of them also hold US franchises in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Major US sports leagues regularly play regular-season games overseas.

Last year Liverpool chairman Tom Werner told the Financial Times that he hoped to see Premier League games played in New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Riyadh and Rio de Janeiro, raising fears among some fans of an attempted resurrection of the ‘ 39th game ‘ concept that was considered and then abandoned by the Premier League in 2008 after a fan backlash.

Birmingham City’s chief executive also stated to the BBC that a regular season game against League One rivals Wrexham would be “a great idea.”

The recent revival of concepts like the 39th game abroad is a foreshadowing sign, Couper said.

“It shows a willingness to prioritise global markets over local fans and to turn our national game into a global entertainment brand rather than a sacred institution”.

Premier League owner Bill Foley said he opposes traveling to league games, and Premier League GM Richard Masters revealed to BBC Sport that there were no plans to reintroduce such a concept.

La Liga from Spain has stated that it plans to hold games in the US in the coming season, but some remain concerned about whether Fifa will change its rules to allow this.

The UK government was reportedly considering tabling an amendment to the Football Governance Bill in order to prevent any possibility of staging league matches overseas, but it has chosen not to do so.

In an effort to maximize media rights revenues, US-run Premier League clubs have also been rumored to be pushing in secret to end the Saturday 3pm TV blackout, which prevents domestic matches from being broadcast live.

Despite opposition from Manchester City and Newcastle United, all but one of the US-owned Premier League clubs voted last year to approve changes to the rules governing commercial deals.

That may have heightened worries that 14 of the clubs, which are controlled by the US, could cast a coalition to pass changes when they become available.

However, insiders guard against an assumption that just because a group of owners are from one country, they will collude to ‘ Americanise ‘ English football.

They make the case that there are significant differences between the groups of US-owned clubs, some run by individuals, others by families, businesses, or consortiums.