Liverpool owners FSG will see their Pittsburgh Penguins head to Sweden as part of the NHL Global Series
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Liverpool FC owner John W. Henry has made FSG's intentions clear.(Image: Photo by Michael Regan - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
For the foreseeable future, regular-season Premier League games being played overseas just aren’t on the agenda. The League themselves confirmed this at a meeting in New York at the start of the year.
Ever since 2009 and the talks among Premier League members and then CEO Richard Scudamore around a potential 39th game in the season that would happen on foreign soil, a move aimed at growing the appeal of the competition globally, the potential for it to happen has only grown, especially in more recent years with the boom in the interest of the game and English football’s top tier in the sporting goldmine of a market in the United States.
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When quizzed on whether or not the Premier League would follow the path of major league sports in the US such as the NFL, MLB and NBA in taking competitive games from the domestic calendar to America, Premier League chief football officer Tony Scholes poured cold water over the idea.
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“We don’t feel the need to come play in the US during the season proper, and you’ll understand the challenges that would present in the UK as well,” Scholes told Front Office Sports during a mid-season media briefing in early February.
“[Playing internationally] is not on our agenda, and no discussions are taking place.”
Given the chance, and the fact that a large number of Premier League clubs are heading out to the US for pre-season to try and capture the groundswell of interest building up to next summer’s World Cup in North America, there are likely many top tier clubs that would like the chance to tap into new revenue streams that a competitive game in the US might bring.
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner last year spoke on his desire to one day see a competitive game played in New York, although his bullishness over the potential of it was tempered in no small measure by Fenway Sports Group supremo John W. Henry’s own take on the matter, with Henry saying since that it isn’t something he is advocating for or interested in.
But playing competitive games overseas has been something that has formed part of the growth strategy for two of the major US sports teams in their portfolio.
This week saw the announcement that the Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey team would be heading to Stockholm, Sweden, in November of this year to take on the Nashville Predators at the Avicii Arena as part of the 2025 NHL Global Series. It is a chance for the Penguins to bring their brand on the ice in front of a market where the sport holds enormous popularity and revenue potential. It is the first time the Penguins have gone overseas for a global series in 20 years.
In 2019, the Boston Red Sox, the storied baseball franchise that FSG have owned since 2002, took part in the MLB London Summer Series against the legendary New York Yankees.
Major American sports leagues have taken their wares abroad to showcase to new audiences and key markets for some years now, and it has been good for business, with the NFL taking up a 10-year residence at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for their showpiece events in the UK.
But the Premier League hasn’t yet gone in for it, and the rhetoric from the League’s chiefs recently suggests that it isn’t close, although the desire from La Liga to get their first in a bid to try and claw back some of the lost ground on the Premier League may prompt action sooner rather than later.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said last year that the door was "ajar" for games to be played in other countries, due to a legal settlement between FIFA and US-based match promoter Relevant Sports, the company that recently won the tender to sell UEFA Champions League rights globally.
Liverpool’s ownership might be divided in terms of their personal preference for games being played in the US, but the direction of travel seems to be heading in only one direction, and FSG themselves will know the positive impact that taking their teams on the road in a competitive setting can have on the bottom line due to the Penguins and Red Sox both having clocked up the Air Miles.
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How much could be made from such a thing coming to pass for the Premier League remains to be seen, but the League is taking its Summer Series out to Chicago, Philadelphia and New Jersey this summer to try and grow the brand, and it will be a lucrative endeavour for all involved.
Football fans in America want to see the best of the best, and that is the Premier League, but they want high-stakes games where results matter, and that is understandable. For the Premier League to achieve its real growth potential it may have to bend and go down this road in time. For clubs like Liverpool, with a strong US fan base, American ownership and a host of US commercial partners, it could be a lucrative play. It does seem a matter of when and not if, but it might not be as close as where Spanish football’s top tier are to it right now.