West Ham chairman: US 'should host Premier matches'

[RlCO 0]

P.S. I'll be watching the NFL game tomorrow, whereas I don't normally watch due to the time difference. If I was anywhere near London I might have even gone to Wembley, and any Dolphins/Giants fans that might be complaining about it can go screw themselves

[Tooj 17]

Can't believe people saying it's a decent idea. I get fucked off with lunchtime kickoffs and Monday night kickoffs, never mind matches played 3,000 miles away in a different timezone. It's a fucking dreadful idea - if yanks want to watch Premiership football, they know where to find it.

 

The point being they probably aren't even aware of it, and those that have have a distorted view due to the Bekham saga. I heard an LA Galaxy match referred by yanks the other day as 'pub football'. It's about raising the League's profile, it's not as if it will become a regular thing.

 

I'm not interested in raising the league's profile though. I don't care how popular we are in other countries - the Premier League is plenty popular enough around the world without going and playing games in other countries though.

 

I doubt the PL will care what Toon fans think when deciding to do something that will no doubt increase their revenues.

 

There was a time that people said televised football in this country wouldn't succeed due to lack of interest, I think the thousands of fans away from the Toon will have been glad of the decision to do it anyway.

 

I don't imagine they do care what I think. But I still think it's a shit idea. There's a difference between televised a match and moving it 3,000 miles away though. Although I'm sure you can see that and will just plough on with the Devil's Advocate act.

I just wanted to make reference to your spell in San Francisco tbh.

[acrossthepond 699]

Plenty of teams already do US tours in the pre-season. They get large attendances. The reason why? The EPL is already popular enough in the States. Most football fans in the States support English clubs and are only mildly aware, if at all, of their nearest MLS club.

 

I just can't see the need for flying two teams out to Los Angeles or some equally out of the way location to have them play in front of a crowd of 50% lookyloos 35% general sports fans who came because the tickets were cheap and 15% people who know anything about the two teams who are playing. Having them do it for a league game which actually can matter to the survival of some teams is ridiculous.

 

It makes sense for the NFL because that's a "sport" with little to no exposure outside the States. But football is the world's game. There's nowhere that isn't a market for football, or for the EPL. I hardly think the league's profile needs raising.

[Noelie 103]

Plenty of teams already do US tours in the pre-season. They get large attendances.

 

I just can't see the need for flying two teams out to Los Angeles or some equally out of the way location to have them play in front of a crowd of 50% lookyloos 35% general sports fans who came because the tickets were cheap and 15% people who know anything about the two teams who are playing. Having them do it for a league game which actually can matter to the survival of some teams is ridiculous.

 

Truth of the matter is; ......if Newcastle played Man.Utd in the Los Angeles coloseum there'd probably be about 50,000 spectators made up of;

5% American(mostly coaches & youth teams and those caught in the Beckham frenzy)

15% European, Asian, African, Oriental(who want to see good football with an international mix of players.

25% British(and some Irish)

40% Hispanic(mostly Mexicans who've seen the movie "Goal" and it's their national sport, South Americans who've heard of Man.Utd. and it's their national sport too)

[Guest alex]

P.S. I'll be watching the NFL game tomorrow, whereas I don't normally watch due to the time difference. If I was anywhere near London I might have even gone to Wembley, and any Dolphins/Giants fans that might be complaining about it can go screw themselves

It was vastly oversubscribed I think. Re: the idea of having Premier League games over there. They can just fuck off.

[snakehips 0]

P.S. I'll be watching the NFL game tomorrow, whereas I don't normally watch due to the time difference. If I was anywhere near London I might have even gone to Wembley, and any Dolphins/Giants fans that might be complaining about it can go screw themselves

It was vastly oversubscribed I think. Re: the idea of having Premier League games over there. They can just fuck off.

 

I heard that there were a million applications for tickets (probably 750,000 from Yanks who haven't got a clue where London is ).

 

As for any Prem game or FA Cup game or League Cup game going anywhere overseas (wherever that may be) is to be resisted at all costs.