EPL is the most available league. Choose a club for you

EPL is the most available league. Choose a club for you
by spade (2023-01-23 01:42:47)
Edited on 2023-01-23 01:43:25

In reply to: It seems Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City posted by Raoul

Before 2013, there was not any one single platform that dedicatedly showed all the games on a regularly, available schedule. Sure FOX Soccer showed a ton of games, but that was a difficult channel to purchase/find. ESPN had games, but you couldn't trust it to show YOUR match. When NBC took over, every bar/home in America could become a Soccer Pub.

This coincided with the fact Manchester City had just won the league for the first time since the 60s and the winning continued (at least domestically, hahaha) and so the US fans flocked to the blue side of Manchester. But the old ManU and Liverpool fans remain as those are the two most popular EPL teams globally as well.
I propose that if NBC would have started showing the games 1 decade sooner, Chelsea would have swapped places with ManCity as that would have coincided with the highest-highs for Chelsea. It just comes down to timing of their sucess for the City fans popularity in USA. Before their title, I had met more USA Spurs fans than ManCity (which was like 2 fans at the time lol)

One of the problems the other leagues are finding with the US market, is that we have grown out of simply SuperBowl-type interest. So when ESPN, or whoever owns rights, only wants to allocate enough airtime for El Clasico and not all the Spanish games, the growth is stymied here in the USA.

Some of this is active positioning from the EPL, but honestly, the leagues deserve some of the blame. Pick any two English clubs and that matchup will likely be more attractive than any 2 teams from Spain, France or Italy. The English have created a well-valued league top to bottom, and that is why it gets the complete coverage and why it is growing in USA.

Raoul, as for picking a team, pick wisely as it is permanent = ) Choose a club for you, not just because one team or another won the league last year.
Each club has its personalities and the fan-bases respond to their wins or losses differently. If there is a local pub near you that supports a squad, try them out. Having others fans to watch the game with is really fun and Detroit is likely to have good clubs.
Clearly if you like Detroit, you are OK with not winning, so this really opens up your choices.
Lastly, Ted Lasso is a bit correct when he says West Ham reminds him of pickup-trucks. So if you own a pickup-truck, why not be a Hammers fan...

I think this response covers the bases.

To be succinct: NBC's investment into the English Premier League made the sport (and specifically the EPL) accessible to the US and has been instrumental in its growth. Man U hasn't been particularly good during this time, but there are plenty of folks still around that jumped on the Beckham, Ronaldo, etc. bandwagon back in the day.

Personally, I picked Liverpool back in the day because I felt it was the most like Notre Dame. It was harder to follow EPL, so I needed to pick a team that I felt would be on TV. But also one rich with history but struggling to hang on to that tradition. But that was me.

You might watch Sunderland Til I Die. It really does a great job teaching about the culture of English football. But be careful, it might cause you to root for a club that may never make it back to the Premier League!

Far be it from me to tell you who to root for. But I recommend Leeds. They have a rich history, but nobody would accuse you for being a bandwagon fan. But they probably have the brightest young USA star in Tyler Adams (tough kid and great leader) along with the blue collar kid in Brendon Aaronson. They also have a USA coach in Jesse Marsch. They are also one of Manchester United's rivals. It's fun to have a club (and supporters) to hate.

Fullham is a bit similar with history and USA presence. Tim Ream is the elder statesman team leader at 35 y/o along with the young Antonee Robinson. Chelsea are rivals, and Chelsea are dumb too. So there's that. ;-)

Last warning/caveat. There's tons of movement of players and managers. So you can certainly fall in love with a team like Leeds because of a Tyler Adams. But it won't be long before one of the bigger clubs snatch him up. It's inevitable. There's a strange acceptance in European soccer re the hierarchy of clubs. In US terms it's like the A's waiting for the Yankees or Dodgers to take their young stars...but in Europe/England there's almost a pride when a young star get's the opportunity to move on to a bigger club.

Enjoy the rabbit hole.