Talk of playing a Premier League match in the United States dates back to the ill-fated “Game 39” project in 2008, but proposals have become increasingly frequent in recent years.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was among those to advocate for English games abroad, calling it “inevitable”, while Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has said the “door looks ajar” for a US move.
This is still overwhelmingly unpopular with domestic fans, yet as the English top flight continues its attempts at global dominance, executives appear to care about so-called legacy supporters less and less.
So, is there a way to avert the seemingly inevitable? i has an idea.
Why the Community Shield should be moved to the United States
This is all based on an assumption which is becoming increasingly hard to fight against – English football matches will be played in the United States in the future.
Unfortunately, given the prevalence of American investment and the size of NBC’s TV rights deal ($450m, second only to Sky’s domestic rights), this appears more and more likely with every takeover backed by a hedge fund and fronted by a US sporting icon.
As president Javier Tebas has been very open about, La Liga are likely to be first to jump ship – they already play their Super Cup in Saudi Arabia – but don’t expect the Premier League to be too far behind.
This can be sold as an issue of fan fairness, that a fan in Portland who wakes up at 5am to watch Brentford is as dedicated a supporter as one born in west London. Now, that is not an unfair contention, but it is also not why this is being proposed. Of course, that is all about money.
In 2017, Real Madrid and Barcelona met at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, the first non-domestic El Clasico for 35 years. The ticket revenue alone came to $36.6m. This is why clubs are open to an idea they know will alienate some lifelong supporters – they will make new ones in the process.
A study done by The Customer Lifetime Value Group found Paris Saint-Germain’s US fanbase grew by 34.9 per cent in 2022-23 alone and projected that 36.5m American fans are yet to commit to supporting a single club. They argue there is $1.1bn in revenue for Europe’s leading football clubs to earn by 2026 if you can capture the US market effectively.
There is a fear that the first league to play matches abroad will win that race and that revenue. The Premier League has a natural advantage in the US through its horde of American owners and investors, but Barcelona and Madrid are not going to have to turn up in Oklahoma too often to convince fans of their merits.
“The Premier League need to have a regular season game in the US,” football finance expert Dr Rob Wilson argues. “It’s a principal market. They’ve picked up decent revenues from tours, but there is nobody that’s really cracked the market at all.
“There is a need to broaden the appeal of the Premier League, because if they don’t then one of these other leagues will jump in and earn the revenues that are on the table and therefore become bigger.”
Which brings us to the Community Shield, English football’s most meaningless event for over 20 years, only continuing as a season raiser out of tradition and its charitable status.
If there were to be a game fans were happy to sacrifice from the domestic calendar to be played abroad, it’s almost certainly this one – it only includes two teams and is already played at a neutral venue anyway.
“The most appeasing way is to push a less competitive regular season game over there,” Wilson explains. “The Community Shield is the is the most obvious one. The FA Cup final will probably be the other, but it’s incredibly difficult to do it.
“But I think those two competitions are probably the most likely, because you’ve got all the issues with competitive integrity if you move just one regular season match to the States.
“Couple that with the fact a lot of these teams are going on us tours anyway, they could stay there a little bit longer and contest the Community Shield as the end of their pre-season activity. It’s the logical step and it makes perfect business sense to do it.”
Why the Community Shield won’t move abroad
The biggest issue with this plan is that the FA control the Community Shield, not the Premier League. Of course, that could be changed if the right deal was cut, but let’s assume it remains in FA hands.
Now, it would collect far more money if played in the US, but that would come with significant complications.
Clubs would expect to be paid their fair share of the profit, which is against the current ethos of the game. It would also force at least two teams to pre-season in the US, something they couldn’t plan ahead for and could leave them with sub-optimal preparations. They may not know they’re in the Community Shield until May and have to leave for pre-season six weeks later.
All this combines into something overly complex, with no obvious short-term advantage for clubs and unnecessary complexity and controversy for the FA without adequate reward.
Why the Community Shield moving abroad would not solve the Premier League’s US problem
Whatever they say publicly, this push for Premier League games across the pond is coming from clubs and NBC.
They would theoretically benefit most from a US deal, but both would largely be cut out by moving the Community Shield.
There is also the argument that this would be just as likely to stave off games abroad as it is to highlight their feasibility and expedite the process of Premier League matches moving.
Taking the Community Shield abroad would be a peace offering to American fanbases and rights holders, increasingly impatient to capitalise on their relatively dormant market.
Last season, a record 2.6m fans watched Manchester City vs Arsenal on NBC, from a population of nearly 350m. Clubs realise not all of them need to be watching the Premier League – but if they can double the number of eyeballs they control in the next five years, there’s massive earning potential there.
The Community Shield would not sufficiently scratch that itch. It is not a useful solution to the problem and would likely only raise further questions and demands.
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