Burnley chief Alan Pace has offered his opinion on the potential for Premier League matches to be played overseas
Alan Pace, owner and chairman of Sunderland’s fellow Premier League new boys Burnley, has admitted that he is in favour of English sides playing competitive matches abroad - but has stated that he would be against any top flight fixtures being move elsewhere.
The topic of domestic contests being played on foreign soil has been at the centre of widespread debate for some time, and has been a particularly thorny subject in Spain - where Pace also owns La Liga outfit RCD Espanyol.
Indeed, a fixture between Barcelona and Villarreal was due to be played in Miami later this season, but that has since been cancelled by league authorities following recent protests.
What has Alan Pace said about matches being player abroad?
And at a recent Burnley fan forum, Pace has suggested that he would be onboard with the idea of hosting matches elsewhere - but only if they met some key criteria. As quoted by the Burnley Express, he said: “I’ll be very clear on this one, I would vote for it. But I don’t think you have to do it for one of the seasonal games that are meant for the league, but I can see them doing it for a cup or a special cup that allows for it or something that finds a way to strike the balance.
“I do think that building an opportunity for both the league and the fans to travel to another place and see games, there’s something in it. Would I be willing to vote for the exploration? Yes I would. Would I be willing to take our game against, let’s say, Man City and play it elsewhere? No, I don’t really think so. We only have two cups, so I know what I’m talking about is very theoretical, but I’ve also heard plenty of times about people wanting to get rid of one of the cups.
“All I would say is that there is a way to find a solution that could actually be quite interesting in my opinion and that’s just my opinion. The economical value of sharing our leagues, our teams and our product with other parts of the world could really change some of the economics for some of the clubs like us from a long-term perspective.
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“I love that we don’t have to have season tickets at the level of US prices or even London prices, but you have to see that this game continues to get inflated, so how do we stay up? How do we compete? I don’t know, because I don’t think it’s tenable to just hope that all the smaller clubs are just going to stay small and find a way. There are solutions that could be helpful to all of us. I’m not sure everybody thinks the way that I think, so I’m not sure I’m going to be the swing vote on whatever ends up happening.
“I will say this is a real-time debate in Spain, it is happening and I will be involved in that debate. I don’t have a problem with it there either, but I don’t think you should play your league games because the home and away thing does really matter. But there are some ways to find other solutions, and I don’t just mean friendlies because no-one really cares.”
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