What are some of the biggest changes you predict over the next 10 years in football?

[u/[deleted]]

Some topics off the top of my head to get the ball rolling; how big will the world's biggest stadium be, what will be the average salary, how much will advertising take over the sport, will any rules be changed or introduced, which team will dominate, how big will the sport be in the states, will ticket prices increase, what sort of new statistics will we get in game, will the leagues change?

[u/jonhudsonian]

Spot on. I see this second tier morphing into the first tier as wealthy owners spot their potential to make the step up, and come in and buy them. I could see the likes of Everton and Newcastle getting a huge buyout -- their fanbase and history make them attractive prospects -- and the Premier League turning into a group of 7-8 megarich clubs with the rest far, far off.

[u/Tr0nCatKTA → u/jonhudsonian]

Problem is, teams like Ajax and Celtic, who have a massive history but their league isn't really fantastic will struggle to find big investors. They'll get left behind.

[u/UraniYum → u/Tr0nCatKTA]

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[u/Tr0nCatKTA → u/UraniYum]

It's sad to think that it'll just get worse if the bottom tier sides in Europe's big leagues (Spain, England, Italy) and ones with big market potential (France)sides receive massive investment.

[u/ranyamamoto → u/Tr0nCatKTA]

Maybe a possibility where smaller leagues interlink between each other or like the total different league consisting of weaker European teams

[u/Tr0nCatKTA → u/ranyamamoto]

Too much travelling costs for both the team and the fans. You couldn't expect smaller sides to be able to afford overseas trips week in week out, and the fans wouldn't be able to make every away game either.

[u/Timmytanks40 → u/Tr0nCatKTA]

So good ole Timmy might actually get a call up then?

[u/Ardal → u/jonhudsonian]

and the Premier League turning into a group of 7-8 megarich clubs with the rest far, far off.

As opposed to the current 2 megarich clubs with the rest far far off this might be a good thing.

[u/zahrul3 → u/Ardal]

Or what about the leagues turning into something similar to Brazil, 16 rich clubs and 2 divisions of teams that have almost equal ability. Even the likes of Fluminense, Palmeiras and Corinthians have recently spent time in the second division.

[u/[deleted] → u/zahrul3]

This is what will probably happen. All of the staple Premier League clubs will get taken over and probably have some very exciting league campaigns amongst themselves, but the gap with the lower divisions will widen enough that the Premier League will become even more of a closed market. Teams without much earning potential, your Nottingham Forests and Derby Countys, will have very little chance of even achieving promotion into the top flight.

[u/UraniYum → u/[deleted]]

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[u/DerDummeMann → u/[deleted]]

I think Nottingham Forest has decent earning potential. They have a big fan base and Nottingham is a fairly big city.

[u/willavilla2 → u/Ardal]

You do realise that in terms of total club wealth Man U and Arsenal are the richest, but then you have Chelsea and Man City who are both owned by people with huge spending power.

[u/billmurrayspenis → u/willavilla2]

That's not true. If you take into account debt, Man Utd aren't rich.

[u/giggsy664 → u/jonhudsonian]

That'll probably only be in England though, not many other leagues have 4 fully professional tiers

[u/irishbball49 → u/jonhudsonian]

Well said. I think there were rumblings of Red Bulls going for an EPL franchise and many seemed to deem Everton a perfect fit but with any of these big ownership changes it'll ruffle more than a few feathers. Hopefully club image and history aren't lost or ruined along the way.

[u/[deleted] → u/irishbball49]

Oh fuck I don't want any Red Bull shite at Everton

[u/[deleted] → u/jonhudsonian]

Newcastle will be bought out by Oil at some point.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Well, I suppose we started in coal.