Pre-season friendlies in the United States are a harbinger of football's tough future | Sport

OhOn a sunny summer Saturday in Inglewood, California, two of the Premier League's most historic rivals met on the pitch, and the biggest news It has nothing to do with the result of the matchRather, two key injuries to Manchester United (Rasmus Højlund and new signing Leny Yoro) grabbed the headlines after Arsenal's defeat. Victory 2-1 in which the two key Gabriels of the London team (Jesus and Martinelli) scored.

It's only preseason. In all likelihood, injuries were the biggest thing that could have happened in a game between these opponents at this location. But that may not be the case for much longer. Soon, games like this week's clash between Liverpool and Arsenal in Philadelphia or Chelsea and Manchester City in Columbus could have a real impact on the league table.

The event is just nine miles from where Milan and Manchester City kicked off their own transatlantic exhibition in New York City on Saturday: the Southern District of New York court in Manhattan, where event promoter Relevent Sports filed a lawsuit against US Soccer and FIFA in 2019. Relevent had initially filed the suit because US Soccer denied the company a license to stage an Ecuadorian league match in the U.S. Earlier this year, FIFA reached an agreement with Relevent to withdraw from the suit, crucially promising to change its charter as part of the deal — though without admitting any wrongdoing.

FIFA has not yet scrapped the rule, but has promised to do so before the end of the year and ordered a review of the rule at its most recent Congress in May. By almost any interpretation, the rule's removal is virtually inevitable, given that Premier League matches will be played on U.S. soil. Surely it will follow soon – whether sanctioned league matches or as part of an additional or renamed cup competition.

There is probably still some time before those games actually start happening, but the games on this summer’s American tour now find themselves in a strange middle ground: no longer a harmless diversion before a grueling season, but perhaps a harbinger of what may be an even more grueling club season. Not only will players be playing more meaningful games than ever before, they will also be doing so in an unprecedented number of places far removed from the communities the clubs were initially founded to represent.

There is plenty of opposition to these potential overseas fixtures, particularly from grassroots fans. The masses who fill club stadiums every week feel rightfully aggrieved that their domestic circuits would be bypassing a growing commercial revenue generation, higher ticket prices, inflated player wages and astronomical transfer fees by abandoning the people who gave them the platform to reap all those benefits in the first place. It’s the European Super League phenomenon, in a different form.

It should not be lost sight of that, as English fans, They are calling for a concession on more favorable start timesOne day, team owners may have their eyes set on a possible North London derby in New York, Los Angeles or Nome, Alaska.

The debate is sufficiently intense and relevant to broader trends in globalisation that it is no longer just about football. And the “real world”, such as the world of football, tends to agree: the trend is virtually inevitable.

“We have seven Premier League clubs in London, but when you look at how the Premier League works, a lot of the revenue they get is from television rights,” the Mayor of London said. Sadiq Khan told the Sports Agents podcast“I think the point that the Premier League and some of the owners would make is: why can't their fans in those countries benefit from a competitive game?”

What is not said, and perhaps taken for granted, is that the clubs themselves would also benefit greatly. Most estimates put commercial revenue from pre-season tours at over $10 million. Premier league It is therefore no surprise that Europe's top teams now make regular stops in the United States. At first, in the early 2000s, they did so because the market was virtually untapped. Today they do so because the taps are fully in place and fans have shown they are willing to flood the stadiums, no matter what is at stake.

In 2014, the Relevent-hosted friendly between Manchester United and Real Madrid at Michigan Stadium set an all-time record that still stands for the largest crowd for a single soccer match in U.S. history: more than 109,000, a sellout of the Big House in Ann Arbor. Last weekend's games continued to draw solid numbers, and in places like South Bend, Indiana, (home of Chelsea-Celtic) that traditionally don't see top-flight soccer of any kind, Sunday's Liverpool-Man United game in South Carolina sold out within hours. Ticket prices for all of these games easily reach into the hundreds, again, for games that it does not mean anything.

There is value beyond dollars and cents, too. Every day a European club spends in the United States is a chance for its players to gain publicity opportunities they might never otherwise have (see Christian Pulisic’s appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show this week, made possible by Milan’s visit to the Big Apple). It’s the kind of mass exposure to a soccer star that is rarely seen in the United States outside of World Cups. And promoters like Relevent are at the center of much of this activity and the money it typically generates.

It's easy to imagine how competitive matches could accelerate these trends, and it's equally hard to imagine that it won't happen soon. So while these summer friendlies may not matter, it would be wise to enjoy them as much as possible while they last.

• This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian US's weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Jonathan will be back from his summer break next week with an email edition ahead of the new season. You can email your questions to footballwithjw@theguardian.com.