ponsaelius

I despise this fixture.

Very annoying. If Wood and Dubravka aren't shit we go in 1-1.

If Rodgers had had a slow start to his first two seasons but ultimately dragged Leicester up to 5th come the end then they'd be viewed a lot better than pushing for 4th and falling away at the end. But that's probably harsh because 5th is a decent effort for Leicester however it unfolds - especially along side delivering a major trophy.

I do think there's some truth that Rodgers is a manager that starts well but begins to lose grip of things as time goes on. Although that's arguably true of all managers. He's clearly done a good job at Leicester considering though and probably deserves the benefit of the doubt for one more season.

Enjoy. De Kuip is right top of my bucket list.

He's a great manager no doubt but he's also a total knobhead.

If people waltzing back and forth with hotdogs and fucking popcorn genuinely became the norm it would probably put me off ever going to another PL game again.

No I'm certainly not adult enough to accept that and focus on the game. When I used to have my ST the one guy on our row who kept going for a piss was the bane of my life. But at least he had an excuse of probably having some bladder issues. If everybody starts fucking off to scran mid game then I'm going to get miffed. Ideally the food offering stays abysmal to discourage this.

The fact people wander off to get food because the events on court are so inconsequential reflects to the overall quality of the live experience. Yes. And the fact that also makes a less intense atmosphere, liberated of tension or tribalism, also impacts the quality of the live experience. Yes. It's probably a different culture and we're never going to agree. This is fine. But equally I don't have to believe our game needs to change to be more like something totally different.

It was dull because nobody in the audience seemed particularly interested. People spent most of the game wandering back and forth for food and drink. If somebody does that at SJP other than at half time they are rightly viewed as a dickhead. I've never once been to a football match where people did that en masse. Sport lives and dies as an entertainment, both live and on TV, by the stakes at play and the atmosphere in the crowd. Otherwise it is just athletic people with very good motor skills. Which is dull in my opinion. You may disagree. For what it's worth the NBA playoffs can be extremely entertaining and I think basketball at its core is a good game - particularly when the teams are closely matched.

Football is definitely not dying. Quite the opposite. But most of the things bad about it, which would justify such a point, are a direct result of it becoming more like US sports.

I'm going to go back to this point as it is worth touching on. They don't. Clubs dont disappear. If they go bust they'll start again with the same fans. Because there's more to football clubs than just the registered company. Nobody other than Celtic fans would try to suggest that the Rangers in Seville next week is a different one to the one that played in Manchester in 2008. Half of the Italian pyramid have restarted at some point. In the US teams genuinely do disappear - when they're picked up and moved across state lines and given an entirely new name. At the whim of a billionaire owner. How many of those moved franchises were replaced by phoenix clubs in the same way happens here? Without a pyramid it's basically not possible. The choice is to support your local college/HS team instead, latch onto a new team, or pick a different sport. And wait until another billionaire or group gives it another go in your city. There's serious problems with English footballs vetting of owners from an administrative point of view - but there isn't a systemic issue that means teams literally cease to be.

I don't see how it's against the rules? His loan is over now and he doesn't need to be named in the squad as he's 19. We would only be the second club this season he's played for. As far as I'm aware he could be involved in the last two games. And I think that it would be a good thing for his development to get some minutes off the bench.

I can't believe it needs explaining how the free market can be exploitative like

The lack of inherent risk or jeopardy I believe definitely contributes to their reduced popularity globally and is certainly not a sporting model that European football should look to copy - yes. I'm not seriously making a comparison between amateur English football and elite level sports.

Generally other foreign owners have not been so keen to push towards a sporting model that is so alien. That's not to say they wouldn't be on board - but they have never been the driving force. People were rightly disgusted by the ESL in this country. Without American owners jumping on board with the likes of Agnelli and Perez it would never have got off the ground. That is where the animosity comes from and is justified. There is nothing wrong with hating American billionaires - everybody should.

Nothing to do with viewership. A game which can decide relegation verses a regular season game with nothing at stake (because there's nothing to play for) has fundamentally higher stakes in a sporting sense.

Consumer wealth inflates demand - limited capacity allows for exploitation in the form of obscenely high ticket prices which price out those who can't actually afford to ever go. Both consumer demand and exploitation at the same time. In European football there is not as much wealth, but also a social contract that generally prevents obscene price gouging. In Germany there are packed stadiums but if the clubs raise prices then they will protest and not go. Tickets stay cheap. There is an inherent social contract, and underlying threat of something bordering on industrial action, which limits the degree to which ticket prices will ever rise. And it reflects the cultural history and place that football clubs have in society. It is less the case in England but remains true. This social contract does not really exist in US sports. Hence why the American owners would be very keen on the ESL which pushes towards a franchise system and detached clubs further from their historic cultural and social contract.

Yeah. I was conned by this last time I was there. An ordinary season game with no consequences and therefore played as such. Bloody dreadful. 10th tier football has higher stakes. The food was good though.

It can quite easily be both of those things. They are not contradictory in the slightest. I said it has some global reach. Still completely incomparable to football. Plus it was invented by a Canadian anyway.

Fair enough but MLB teams do play about a billion times a season and there is nearly always empty seats as a result - so that would make sense. The tickets for the other sports can be eye watering.

Wealth and disposable income in the US is enormous and people pay a lot of it to watch sport. Big whoop. The argument here is global popularity which is barely worthy of a comparison. Basketball does have some global reach as it is a genuinely global sport with cultural cache in a number of places (even ignoring the NBA). It is still incomparable nor is it an endorsement of the model of competition.

As has the PL.

Just less being ripped off by billionaires. Sky high ticket prices I'm sure another brilliant thing we should copy though, cracking argument.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1120190/broadcasting-rights-sports-by-source/