The European Super League was quite an expensive failure. Those costs continued to add up Wednesday, as the “Big Six” teams in the league will pay roughly $31 million to the Premier League over trying to leave for the Super League.
The Premier League and The Football Association announced the news in a statement Wednesday. The statement mentions the $31 million fine, and notes there will be harsher penalties if the clubs involved — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham — attempt to try something similar in the future. In that scenario, the teams involved would receive a $35 million fine and a 30-point reduction.
The $31 million fine amounts to roughly $5 million per team, a negligible amount considering Arsenal earned $454 million in 2019-20, the lowest figure of the six teams involved in the payment.
European Super League lasted days before collapsing
The European Super League “existed” for less than 72 hours. The new league was expected to feature 12 of the biggest teams in the sport. While that sounds great, the move was driven by greed, as team owners sought to make even more money, potentially hurting other soccer leagues in Europe.
The league’s announcement was met with vitriol and anger from fans, players and coaches, prompting teams involved in the league to reverse course. It wasn’t long before the league completely folded.
The European Super League might be dead, but fans haven’t forgotten it. Manchester United fans stormed the team’s training grounds in April, calling for owner Joel Glazer to sell the team.
Wednesday’s news likely won’t do much to quell fan frustration. A small fine doesn’t make much of an impact when fans are pushing for ownership changes.
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