Quote Originally Posted by ragnarok View Post
The thing is that the European football system isn't really 'free'. It is a rigidly structured and regulated industry.

What is evident is just how ineffectual and corrupt UEFA's governance of the game has been. The issue isn't so much 'greed' and 'capitalism', it's the fact that in the 90s the conditions were put in place that created a runaway effect whereby the resources were funnelled towards the top clubs and top leagues. Obviously the top clubs pushed for this but it was all put in place by UEFA. UEFA's attempts to redress the financial imbalance have been pitiful. UEFA will claim that it had to out of fear that the top clubs would breakaway but that's a weak argument given that the situation could hardly have turned out worse than it has.

While I'm not a fan of the idea of super-leagues (i.e the 'Atlantic League') UEFA has consistently shown that it will block any attempts by clubs and smaller associations to redress the balance while doing nothing to address the underlying issues that have forced clubs to consider such options.
This is a fair summary of what's happened, but the idea that UEFA did this on purpose is more debatable. A lot of what created this situation wasn't the work of UEFA, but the work of circumstance: e.g. the growth of international TV markets, which are starting to dwarf the resources available from any other stream. A lot of it was negligence for failing to see that this is where the game was going and by the time they realised it was a problem (and the threat of clubs breaking away is now entirely real and completely against UEFA's interests) things had progressed too far for them to do anything about it.

They knew it was a problem ten years ago when Platini took over. He attempted to try and open up the Champions League with various proposals (even minimal ones like giving Champions League spots to cup winners) but the clubs wouldn't buy it. A European Superleague could be an improvement if it were an open system that had some means of promotion/relegation from domestic leagues, but what we'd actually get would be even worse. At least some people in UEFA are attempting to make things more equitable, the European Superleague wouldn't even have that. It would be like the NFL - a completely closed shop run by a small number of clubs that have all the resources, all the best players, and no interest in letting anyone else join unless they'd benefit financially from it.