Stray Wasp
Registered User
I cant think of a better word but N.American sports are far more socialist than Euro sports. Euro sports are full on cut throat.
The revenue sharing in the NHL is kinda BS. Teams like the Leafs , Canucks or Canadians should have some financial advantage over say , the Carolina Hurricanes. Instead of subsidizing them to beat you year in year out. Revenue can be shared but it should be a sliding scale.
Funnily enough, the old English Football League First Division (the precursor to the Premier League) at various points in its history had a maximum wage and a degree of revenue sharing. The former (rightly, I'd argue) was abolished because it was determined to be against workers' rights. The latter was abolished because the richest clubs agreed with the exact rationale you cite above.
With that, the slow march towards the enshrined inequalities of the Premier League began.
As others have mentioned, the appeal of supporting a promoted team in the EPL can be of seeing some of the best players and visiting some of the best stadiums in the flesh for the first time. If, like Ipswich this season, it's your return to the top flight after 22 years, then there's an opportunity for a whole new generation of fans to experience that communal pleasure.
Yes, Crystal Palace has never won a major trophy. But imagine what joy their fans have gleaned from more modest victories, such as when they reached the 1990 FA Cup final by winning a semi-final against a Liverpool team that had beaten them 9-0 earlier the same season in the league. Or when they achieved promotion to the Premier League in 2013, having gone into administration only three years earlier. Or their 2016 return to the FA Cup final - which they briefly led.
And if they win the Cup this season, imagine what their celebrations will be.
Perhaps life is about 'winners' and 'losers'. But language operates on consensus, so there's scope for groups of people to agree that they'll reject definitions of those two words that strike them as being inappropriately narrow if doing so improves their experiences.
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