La Liga to stage a match in USA

[Sexydadbod]

1 minute ago, David said:

Quality will always be subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

When one league has millions more eyes on a league, clearly those eyes are being entertained.

Easy to fob it off as marketing but that’s just being ignorant to the football being played in this country.

You can’t ignore attendance/viewing figures.

La Liga is not getting anywhere near the same amount of eyes on, less than the English second tier, it’s the same game, same rules, so why is that?

Why do Sky Sports value the SPL more than La Liga? 

Is it really poor marketing? They have had the best 2 footballers for a number of seasons yet still couldn’t turn those eyes into euros.

Ok La Liga might not be poor, but it is boring in my opinion and that’s based on watched games played in front of empty stadiums.

I would guess many more feel that way and why they struggle to sell La Liga to TV audiences.

Eleven Sport have the rights this season, who? Exactly.

 

 

It’s all subjective like you said. It’s like the Rowett debate. Some sets of fans like myself couldn’t stand him or his football whilst others were only focused on the results and loved him. I didn’t  find it particularly entertaining last season seeing weak teams trying to kick Man City off the Park because they knew they were inferior. At least in Spain and other European leagues, the smaller teams at least try to play entertaining football. 

Premier league is probably the most entertaining for other neutrals because of the end to end chaotic nature of it whereas La Liga and other European leagues are more controlled and at a lesser tempo, relying more on tactics rather than pace and power like in the prem. That’s one reason why premier leagues tend to struggle in Europe because they struggle adapting to a slower and more technical pace in the champions league.

[Sexydadbod]

7 minutes ago, David said:

It’s not bait it’s the truth. 

Explain why people don’t watch La Liga if the quality of football was so high?

Simple question.

Because it’s slower and not as quick as the premier league?  Fans like end to end football whereas teams in La Liga rely more on build up play . Better marketing too, without Richard Scudimore, the premier league wouldn’t be what it is today.

Funny you say about the quality aspect though because the top teams in the premier league have many players and managers who learnt their football in Spain. Hasn’t done them too much harm has it?

[Zag zig]

38 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Depressing precedent set, soon all leagues will be scheduling glamour fixtures in markets they wish to develop.

You know I was thinking how American football has tried this, the pace setter being the annual Wembley games.

It never really interested me, bar the odd final but I think it was around the early 90’s I was living in Harrow and went to see the L.A.Rams play (yep name drew me in) it was kind of quirky and drew me in a bit, enough to go again.

Ultimately though, I had no real affinity for those teams (nor really the game), so bar a couple of years when I had trouble sleeping (baby woes), I’m still pretty uninterested in it.

Point being, I can imagine this is how a lot of Americans feel about Soccer compared to Baseball, Basketball and American Football, so I can’t see a huge interest take for Spanish football, largely other than ex pats living there.

[David]

2 minutes ago, McLovin said:

It’s all subjective like you said. It’s like the Rowett debate. Some sets of fans like myself couldn’t stand him or his football whilst others were only focused on the results and loved him. I didn’t  find it particularly entertaining last season seeing weak teams trying to kick Man City off the Park because they knew they were inferior. At least in Spain and other European leagues, the smaller teams at least try to play entertaining football. 

Premier league is probably the most entertaining for other neutrals because of the end to end chaotic nature of it whereas La Liga and other European leagues are more controlled and at a lesser tempo, relying more on tactics rather than pace and power like in the prem. That’s one reason why premier leagues tend to struggle in Europe because they struggle adapting to a slower and more technical pace in the champions league.

You could also argue that the Spanish top sides don’t face games that are as competitive as the Premier League days before playing in Europe.

Probably dismiss it as trolling but I do think that’s a factor. 

Real, Barca and Atlético have/had World Class players, the best of the best, tier 1 if you like.

Premier League has a large number of tier 2 players that are spread across more clubs which make it a more competitive league, games that take it out of you more ahead of playing in Europe.

I would never dismiss Champions League results but I don’t see them as being games which you can say X best X so La Liga is better. It’s a cup competition, anything can happen when you’re drawn out of a hat and placed into groups.

[Sexydadbod]

1 minute ago, David said:

You could also argue that the Spanish top sides don’t face games that are as competitive as the Premier League days before playing in Europe.

Probably dismiss it as trolling but I do think that’s a factor. 

Real, Barca and Atlético have/had World Class players, the best of the best, tier 1 if you like.

Premier League has a large number of tier 2 players that are spread across more clubs which make it a more competitive league, games that take it out of you more ahead of playing in Europe.

I would never dismiss Champions League results but I don’t see them as being games which you can say X best X so La Liga is better. It’s a cup competition, anything can happen when you’re drawn out of a hat and placed into groups.

But all you said is  simply speculation and your opinion, nothing wrong with that but it isn’t fact. How do we know that the likes of Bournemouth are better than their Spanish counterparts like Girona, the team who battered Spurs 4-1 last month and beat the run away premier league winners Man City last year? Pre season doesn’t mean anything so we don’t know. We wouldn’t know unless the English midtable teams consistently faced the midtable Spanish teams. The midtable Spanish sides tend to be a lot more consistent in the Europa league though than English teams which is all we really have to go on.

[David]

8 minutes ago, McLovin said:

Because it’s slower and not as quick as the premier league?  Fans like end to end football whereas teams in La Liga rely more on build up play . Better marketing too, without Richard Scudimore, the premier league wouldn’t be what it is today.

Funny you say about the quality aspect though because the top teams in the premier league have many players and managers who learnt their football in Spain. Hasn’t done them too much harm has it?

You’re dismissing millions of fans as nothing but adrenaline junkies. 

Take away TV audiences, forget marketing, Spanish clubs are failing to put bums on seats, a country that loves it’s football and has a successful national team. 

Espanyol im told are a big club. They play in a stadium that holds just over 40k yet averaged similar numbers to Ipswich Town last season. 

I can’t believe that they are staying away from quality football with cheap tickets. Just don’t buy it, sorry. 

[Highgate]

4 minutes ago, David said:

Quality will always be subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

When one league has millions more eyes on a league, clearly those eyes are being entertained.

Easy to fob it off as marketing but that’s just being ignorant to the football being played in this country.

You can’t ignore attendance/viewing figures.

La Liga is not getting anywhere near the same amount of eyes on, less than the English second tier, it’s the same game, same rules, so why is that?

Why do Sky Sports value the SPL more than La Liga? 

Is it really poor marketing? They have had the best 2 footballers for a number of seasons yet still couldn’t turn those eyes into euros.

Ok La Liga might not be poor, but it is boring in my opinion and that’s based on watched games played in front of empty stadiums.

I would guess many more feel that way and why they struggle to sell La Liga to TV audiences.

Eleven Sport have the rights this season, who? Exactly.

 

When I'm talking about the 'quality' of the teams I'm talking about how good a team is, as in how likely they are to beat another team.  I'm not talking about how entertaining or boring they are to watch. As you quite rightly say, that's in the eye of the beholder.  I love watching La Liga games, but if someone else doesn't then there is no point arguing with them over that. 

Football League attendances have as much to do with the football culture in a country as they have to do with the quality of the teams playing.  If we are going to be so dependent on using attendances to measure quality, then don't we have to conclude that the Bundesliga is definitively the best league in the world ?  But that's clearly not the way to measure quality, if such a thing can be done.  

Are you suggesting that the SPL has better football teams that La Liga?  Couldn't it be simply that Sky Sports has more domestic Scottish customers than domestic Spanish ones?  Telefonica have the rights to La Liga...Eleven merely have the rights in the UK.

The Premier League is a wonderful league but La Liga has won 9 out of 10 European club competitions in the last 5 years, split between 4 clubs.  Doesn't this make a complete mockery of the Premier League constant self promotion as the 'best' league in the World?  Well if that's the case go prove it on the pitch then.  Mind you, Pep just might make sure that the hype is justified this year.  

[ViewsFromTheMiddle]

19 minutes ago, David said:

You could also argue that the Spanish top sides don’t face games that are as competitive as the Premier League days before playing in Europe.

Probably dismiss it as trolling but I do think that’s a factor. 

Real, Barca and Atlético have/had World Class players, the best of the best, tier 1 if you like.

Premier League has a large number of tier 2 players that are spread across more clubs which make it a more competitive league, games that take it out of you more ahead of playing in Europe.

I would never dismiss Champions League results but I don’t see them as being games which you can say X best X so La Liga is better. It’s a cup competition, anything can happen when you’re drawn out of a hat and placed into groups.

[Bris Vegas]

35 minutes ago, David said:

Quality will always be subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

When one league has millions more eyes on a league, clearly those eyes are being entertained.

Easy to fob it off as marketing but that’s just being ignorant to the football being played in this country.

You can’t ignore attendance/viewing figures.

La Liga is not getting anywhere near the same amount of eyes on, less than the English second tier, it’s the same game, same rules, so why is that?

Why do Sky Sports value the SPL more than La Liga? 

Is it really poor marketing? They have had the best 2 footballers for a number of seasons yet still couldn’t turn those eyes into euros.

Ok La Liga might not be poor, but it is boring in my opinion and that’s based on watched games played in front of empty stadiums.

I would guess many more feel that way and why they struggle to sell La Liga to TV audiences.

Eleven Sport have the rights this season, who? Exactly.

 

 

You keep refering to the PL and viewing figures as a whole... Why?

Do you honestly think Joe Bloggs from Paraguay gets up at 4am to watch Brighton vs Bournemouth because he has some love of the Premier League?

Global viewing figures are huge because they watch Man Utd, Liverpool, City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs at a push.

When was the last time Sky put on a game between two teams which didn’t include the ‘big six’? I guarantee the viewing figures were no bigger than Derby vs Leeds - another clash which is watched only by fans of those clubs and a fair few more UK-based with a passing interest.

The PL’s top 6 is the only pull to global viewers. They’ve cracked the Asian, Middle-eastern and US market.

From experience here in Mexico, football fans only take an interest in those teams. I ask who Leicester are and not many know. They won the PL less than 30 months ago...

The PL is a 6-club world renowned league. Take those out and you’re left with clubs who are on par with a host of other European clubs in the same boat.

Everton are no more attractive than say Leverkusen, Fiorentina or Athletic Bilbao. The only difference is they’ve got tonnes more money to spend as a result of expert marketing and success from the PL’s top 6. Riding their wave. Clinging on to their coat-tails.

[David]

8 minutes ago, Highgate said:

When I'm talking about the 'quality' of the teams I'm talking about how good a team is, as in how likely they are to beat another team.  I'm not talking about how entertaining or boring they are to watch.

As you quite rightly say, that's in the eye of the beholder.  I love watching La Liga games, but if someone else doesn't then there is no point arguing with them over that. 

Same. Real and Barca have been the best of the best for years. No Premier League club could touch them. The rest of La Liga isn’t worth missing Emmerdale over, where as the Premier League offers a more consistent level of football through the league.

8 minutes ago, Highgate said:

Football League attendances have as much to do with the football culture in a country as they have to do with the quality of the teams playing.  If we are going to be so dependent on using attendances to measure quality, then don't we have to conclude that the Bundesliga is definitively the best league in the world ?  But that's clearly not the way to measure quality, if such a thing can be done.  

I’ve not measured quality with attendances, what I have asked is if La Liga is as high quality football as some of you say, why do they struggle to put bums on seats and sell TV rights which I think is a fair question to ask.

I agree viewing figures are not a scientific way to directly measure quality, take Game of Thrones for example, in Music you have One Direction.

But for whatever reason La Liga doesn’t get the same eyes on. And the reason it doesn’t get my eyes on is how poor the football is outside the top 3.

That’s just my own personal opinion.

[David]

4 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

You keep refering to the PL and viewing figures as a whole... Why?

The last 3 or 4 posts I’ve explained why I’ve mentioned attendances, only so many ways I can explain why the number of eyes on matter in football.

[Will the Ram]

I don’t buy that La Liga is better because a few of the Spanish teams beat English teams in Europe. These games are knockout two-leg ties or a one off Finals. Anything can happen. (E.g. If Ramos hadn’t injured Salah and Karius didn’t have a concussion Liverpool may have beaten Real Madrid last season).

The Premier League is better because it is more competitive. All 3 promoted teams beat Man Utd last season (They finished second). The bottom team also beat them. Do you see that happen in Spain? Once in a blue moon.

Outside of the top 6 the teams may not appeal to anyone other than their own fans but there’s more of a chance that they could get a result against a top 6 team. When I watch Barcelona or Real Madrid against anyone bar the top 5/6 teams in Spain it’s just too predictable.

The Championship is also by far the best second division in Europe. Spain’s has B Teams in it for goodness sakes.

[Highgate]

38 minutes ago, David said:

Same. Real and Barca have been the best of the best for years. No Premier League club could touch them. The rest of La Liga isn’t worth missing Emmerdale over, where as the Premier League offers a more consistent level of football through the league.

I’ve not measured quality with attendances, what I have asked is if La Liga is as high quality football as some of you say, why do they struggle to put bums on seats and sell TV rights which I think is a fair question to ask.

I agree viewing figures are not a scientific way to directly measure quality, take Game of Thrones for example, in Music you have One Direction.

But for whatever reason La Liga doesn’t get the same eyes on. And the reason it doesn’t get my eyes on is how poor the football is outside the top 3.

That’s just my own personal opinion.

Fair enough, just not to your taste, there is no arguing with that.  La Liga is a slower and less hyper version of football.  The excess of gamesmanship in the league doesn't help either (although the Premier League is learning fast in that department).  Personally, I think the technical ability of the teams make up for any shortcomings elsewhere.

Good point about One Direction.  If there is anything that proves that popularity doesn't necessarily equate to quality, then it's the music industry.  Never seen Game of Thrones. 

[Bris Vegas]

56 minutes ago, Will the Ram said:

I don’t buy that La Liga is better because a few of the Spanish teams beat English teams in Europe. These games are knockout two-leg ties or a one off Finals. Anything can happen. (E.g. If Ramos hadn’t injured Salah and Karius didn’t have a concussion Liverpool may have beaten Real Madrid last season).

The Premier League is better because it is more competitive. All 3 promoted teams beat Man Utd last season (They finished second). The bottom team also beat them. Do you see that happen in Spain? Once in a blue moon.

Outside of the top 6 the teams may not appeal to anyone other than their own fans but there’s more of a chance that they could get a result against a top 6 team. When I watch Barcelona or Real Madrid against anyone bar the top 5/6 teams in Spain it’s just too predictable.

The Championship is also by far the best second division in Europe. Spain’s has B Teams in it for goodness sakes.

How is the PL more competitive? I don’t buy this arguement.

Man City won the league with 100 points, 19 more than the next best team.

As for your once in a blue moon comment.

Girona beat both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid last season and Levante beat Barcelona. Looks like blue moons are actually quite frequent in Spain.

Also, there have been more Spanish teams that have entered the CL than there have PL teams over the past 15 years. Isn’t that a sign of competitiveness? Where anybody in Spain can break into Europe’s elite competition whereas in England it’s a closed shop?

 

 

[Bris Vegas]

2 hours ago, David said:

You could also argue that the Spanish top sides don’t face games that are as competitive as the Premier League days before playing in Europe.

Probably dismiss it as trolling but I do think that’s a factor. 

Real, Barca and Atlético have/had World Class players, the best of the best, tier 1 if you like.

Premier League has a large number of tier 2 players that are spread across more clubs which make it a more competitive league, games that take it out of you more ahead of playing in Europe.

I would never dismiss Champions League results but I don’t see them as being games which you can say X best X so La Liga is better. It’s a cup competition, anything can happen when you’re drawn out of a hat and placed into groups.

You could argue that Spanish sides don’t face as hard games as the top PL teams, but you would be wrong...

Man City, Man Utd and Tottenham points combined in the PL is more than Barca, Atletico and Real Madrid.

Real Madrid, the CL winners, lost more league games than Liverpool last season. They picked up less points in La Liga than 3rd placed Tottenham.

 

[UTFR]

Premier League following suit, with 19 EPL matches to be staged in Wales this year.

[Bris Vegas]

1 hour ago, David said:

The last 3 or 4 posts I’ve explained why I’ve mentioned attendances, only so many ways I can explain why the number of eyes on matter in football.

You jeep saying La Liga outside the top 3 is poor, yet refuse to comment on the PL outside the top 6.

Do you honestly believe the PL, outside the top 6, has anything to offer which half a dozen other European leagues can’t? The likes of Everton and West Ham are only at the standard they are because they’re living off United and Liverpool’s global marketing success.

Calling La Liga poor outside the top 3 is just stupid anyway. Like I mentioned above, if it was so poor, why did Real Madrid get less league points than Spurs or United? Why did Real Madrid lose 6 league games last year and Liverpool only 5? Why did City, United and Spurs (PL’s top 3) record a combined 258 league points last season whereas Barca, Atletico and Real Madrid recorded 248 points if La Liga is poor outside the top 3? Where is the logic?

You can dismiss the league’s entertainment value. The style of play in Spain in your eyes might be poor. That’s fair to say. Everyone has their own preference. But you can’t deny it’s effective with 9 of the last 10 European trophies won by Spanish clubs.

[Will the Ram]

1 hour ago, Bris Vegas said:

How is the PL more competitive? I don’t buy this arguement.

Man City won the league with 100 points, 19 more than the next best team.

As for your once in a blue moon comment.

Girona beat both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid last season and Levante beat Barcelona. Looks like blue moons are actually quite frequent in Spain.

Also, there have been more Spanish teams that have entered the CL than there have PL teams over the past 15 years. Isn’t that a sign of competitiveness? Where anybody in Spain can break into Europe’s elite competition whereas in England it’s a closed shop?

 

 

Man City may dominate the next few years who knows. 19 points isn’t the usual points difference. 4 times the gap been above 10 points. I can find any stats for La Liga tables unfortunately.

As for being more competive, the PL title hasn’t been retained since 2008/09. Since then it has been won by four different teams, including Leicester (who nobody expected to ever win it). La Liga has only had 4 different teams win it in the last 20 years. It has been retained several times (usually by Barcelona).

Has La Liga ever been won by a team that were fighting relegation the season before (Finished 14th, 6 points off the bottom 3)?

Anyone can break in Spain can get in the CL?

Totenham and Leicester have broken into the top 4 in recent years.

[David]

5 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

You jeep saying La Liga outside the top 3 is poor, yet refuse to comment on the PL outside the top 6.

How have I refused when I have already said that I see the quality of the Premier League distributed over more teams than La Liga which makes it a competitive league.

5 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Do you honestly believe the PL, outside the top 6, has anything to offer which half a dozen other European leagues can’t? The likes of Everton and West Ham are only at the standard they are because they’re living off United and Liverpool’s global marketing success.

And you don't think La Liga sides are living off Barca and Real? take those two sides away and the La Liga would crumble.

5 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Calling La Liga poor outside the top 3 is just stupid anyway. Like I mentioned above, if it was so poor, why did Real Madrid get less league points than Spurs or United? Why did Real Madrid lose 6 league games last year and Liverpool only 5? Why did City, United and Spurs (PL’s top 3) record a combined 258 league points last season whereas Barca, Atletico and Real Madrid recorded 248 points if La Liga is poor outside the top 3? Where is the logic?

Real had a dodgy season by their standards domestically which is probably why Zidane left, the previous season they only lost 3 games all season. Even with a dodgy season they managed to score 94 goals. 

Man City and Barca walked their leagues last season, looking at the 4 teams below them, 11 points separated them in the Premier League 2nd to 5th. 18 points in La Liga. 

in the Premier League the gap was 21 points between Swansea who got relegated and Burnley qualified for Europe. La Liga 28 points was the gap between Sevilla and Deportivo.

La Liga bottom 3 combined won a total of 16 games, Premier League bottom 3, 21 games.

La Liga bottom 3 scored a combined total of 86 goals, Premier League bottom 3, 94 goals.

La Liga bottom 3 conceded a total of 211 goals, Premier League bottom 3, 180.

So in summary less points separated Premier League sides, the bottom 3 won more, scored more, conceded less than La Liga.

More competitive. 

 

[Sexydadbod]

Real Madrid and Barcelona are better versions of the Man City team that broke many premier league records last season. No-one else would really stand a chance would they? That doesn’t mean that the quality in the league is poor, it just means that Real Madrid, Barca and Atletico are elite teams. Premier league hasn’t had an elite team since Ronaldo played for Man Utd, which makes it appear that the league is more competitive. City are now becoming that elite team and look what happened last year.

The money argument that keeps getting brought up is ridiculous too. More money doesn’t mean more quality. We can all agree that Leeds were much better than Derby last weekend?