{"id":1278048,"date":"2022-09-15T12:15:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T11:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1278048"},"modified":"2022-09-15T16:57:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T15:57:33","slug":"todd-boehly-premier-league-north-v-south-all-star-explained","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/todd-boehly-premier-league-north-v-south-all-star-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Boehly\u2019s \u2018North v South\u2019 All-Star proposal: What is it? How would the Premier League XIs look? And what about the Midlands?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea\u2019s co-controlling owner Todd Boehly made more than one controversial suggestion at the Salt conference in New York earlier this week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The American businessman answered a series of questions about his vision for Chelsea and the game in England during the annual forum, with topics ranging from Manchester City\u2019s \u201cmulti-club model\u201d — which he is a big fan of — to his decision to sack Thomas Tuchel and instill Graham Potter in the Stamford Bridge hot seat.<\/p>\n

Among other subjects, one particular point stood out like a sore thumb to fans across the Atlantic. Boehly suggested an All-Star Premier League match between the North and South of England, following a similar blueprint to one currently deployed by the biggest sports in America, including MLB (Major League Baseball) and the NBA (National Basketball Association).<\/p>\n\n

What is an All-Star game?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In baseball, the All-Star game, also colloquially referred to as the “Midsummer Classic” — as it falls at the halfway point of the MLB season, or thereabouts — is an annual match contested between the ‘best players’ from the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two biggest leagues in the United States.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sort of like a Super Cup, as we know in football, except the two teams competing represent their respective leagues (and not clubs), while the players are selected by both the managers and even<\/em> the fans, with the latter given a rare voice to determine the starting fielders.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to note that depending on where you are in the United States, there will be a very strong opinion on which league reigns supreme: AL or NL. No such rivalry between leagues is apparent in football — at least not in England or the UK, neither of which have any inter-competition events comparable to MLB’s World Series, contested by AL and NL post-season champions.<\/p>\n

Boehly spoke primarily from a monetary perspective while suggesting his idea could provide funds to ultimately benefit all clubs in the English football pyramid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I hope that the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports and really starts to figure out, \u2018Why wouldn\u2019t we do a tournament with the bottom four teams?\u2019\u201d Boehly said of his other proposal to eliminate the standard bottom-three-go-down format currently utilised in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy isn\u2019t there an all-star game?\u2019 People are talking about more money for the pyramid. With the all-star game in LA this year, we made $200\u2009million from a Monday and a Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could have a North versus South all-star game for the Premier League and fund whatever the pyramid needed very easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most recent Major League Baseball All-Star Game was hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers — part-owned by Boehly — at the Dodger Stadium in July and was won by the American League 3-2, their ninth straight victory, stretching back to 2013.<\/p>\n

Other US sports organisations such as the NBA and NFL have variations of the All-Star game, known as the Pro Bowl in the National Football League.<\/p>\n\n

The reaction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Boehly has already come under the microscope for his decision to sack Tuchel after an inauspicious start to the season and his most recent comments are unlikely to score him any brownie points with pundits, such as Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville, who are already skeptical.<\/p>\n

\n

Todd Woodward<\/p>\n

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) September 7, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n