For as long as I've been a fan of Arsenal, there have been rumblings of the creation of a European super league - a closed league, no promotion or relegation, that would only be open to the biggest of the big teams in the major European leagues. It was first floated as an idea in the mid-1990's, shortly after the Premier League was founded, and it briefly had some heat as a thing called the "Europa League" before UEFA reformed the Champions League in order to weight it more towards those top teams.
At the same time, they rebranded the Cup Winners Cup as the Europa League, thus creating both a top- and a second-tier level of pan-European competition, thus rendering moot a lot of the cries for a Super League, at least temporarily. Money was flowing, things were good.
But now, the bigger clubs aren't happy with all the money - they want even more all the money. So of course the idea of a Super League is gaining steam again, that idea being "let's close the gate behind us and not allow anyone else to swim in our Scrooge McDuck pool full of gold". I know I don't speak for everyone when I say this, but honestly, if a closed league with only the biggest teams becomes a thing, that's the day I give up watching the biggest teams, because that would be the most uninteresting thing ever.
I firmly believe scarcity creates value. I don't want Arsenal to play Barcelona every year - for obvious reasons, but also because it's uninteresting when rivalries are forced like that. Part of the attraction for Arsenal v. Barcelona in the Champions League is that it doesn't happen as a matter of routine, so there's more at stake when they do play - if they play twice a year no matter what, with nothing at stake except an ever larger pile of money. It's not like if Arsenal lose a lot in this scenario they'd be relegated, right? It's not like if they finish fourth they'll play in a different European competition every year, so why is that special?
I'm not some sort of hidebound traditionalist. I like change, and think it's necessary in a lot of cases, particularly in sports. But the change should be made for the sake of the competitive aspect, not purely the business end, and this doesn't seem to be a change for anything other than an even more blatant cash grab than they currently have at their disposal. Fortunately, although they almost certainly wouldn't frame it the way I did, Arsenal agree with me.
But this isn't about me, it's a question to you. What are your thoughts about a European Super League? Let's poll this sucker!