European football did fine without British teams for the best part of a decade, don't think it'll suffer much now either!
More people live in Germany than England, more people live in France than England and more people live in Italy then England. Spain is only 5~ million behind England in population so your point is rather mute.
Less viewers... I very much doubt it. BBC Radio 5 Live said their coverage will continue on and they expect the same numbers, I suspect the same with ITV and Sky.
It's a fact that the premier league clubs are the most watched around the world regardless of our population.
The casual viewer will now switch off because their favourite team is no longer involved. To think the CL will retain ALL of the 350m+ United supporters the 135m Chelsea supporters and the 113m Arsenal Supporters is just silly. (supporters figures) http://www.talksport.co.uk/...
So less viewers like I originally said and less viewers, less advertising money. Face it, the Champions League NEEDS English clubs.
Well done for linking a two year old article and also TalkSport literally know nothing; Barca having over a 100 million more fans... Why are Real shirt sales and revenues higher than Barca?! Not to mention Barca get higher average attendance figures and can support 15,000~ more fans per match!
Real hard evidence!
"178.7 million viewers watched the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final making it the highest ever TV audience for a UEFA Champions League Final and the highest global TV audience for a sporting event in 2011" Official UEFA figure.
Barcelona - Manchester United (2 Super clubs in the same final)
"The 2012 UEFA Champions League final took place in Munich, Germany, on 19 May and was delivered to fans all over the world through UEFA’s cutting edge digital strategy. In addition to the projected audience of over 150 million with a global live reach of over 300 million watching the final" Official UEFA figure.
Bayern - Chelsea (According to TalkSport, both have less than Barca together in support base)
Funny how two lesser clubs got over 120 million more viewer ship! ;)
As I said: Europe survived without English football before, it will do fine without them now also. Real, Barca, Bayern, Dortmund and Juventus attract massive viewing figures worldwide. Bayern only have 24 million fans worldwide according to TalkSport... Good bull**** story. ;)
No confirmed figures just projected, so you are talking bull compared to the confirmed figures of 172m. Global reach just means how many people would be able to watch it in their countries.
So again you must be silly to think that the CL will keep the same viewing figures without United. I undestand Madrid, Barca and Bayern will still have high viewing figures but it will still leave a massive gap.
2011 beat 2012 viewing figures in the US http://tvbythenumbers.zap2i... While football is still growing in the US and should have been more in 2012
"In addition to the projected audience of over 150 million with a global live reach of over 300 million watching the final" I.e. They projected an audience over 150 million but got a global reach of over 300 million. Live and watched means, they got "over 300 million" people watching live.
The next two links mean nothing. As I stated before, clubs can claim what they want but getting a solid figure of total fans isn't possible. TalkSport claiming Bayern only have 24 million fans is plain idiocy.
The next two links only show viewing figures in single countries and not total viewing figures compiled from world audiences. UEFA saw a near double viewer ship increase last year. That's a fact!
As I stated before, 4 European countries have larger or equal populations to England. These 4 countries drop off figures would be way more. Most supporters of English teams don't even live in England. "500m+ United supporters, 135m Chelsea supporters and 113m Arsenal Supporters" England only has 51 million subjects, all divided by hundreds of local teams. United probably only have 5-10m~ England fans max, everyone else much less.
Big difference is; Most supporters of German teams do live in Germany. Most supporters of Italian teams do live in Italy. Most supporters of French teams do live in France.
Spain have a similar fan basis to English teams but I guarantee they have a higher percentage of local supporters.
England needs European football more than Europe needs English football. English football would be dead without foreign money!
@RGB- you do realise people from other countries support English teams too? Although I do agree with you, I'm a fan of football so why wouldn't I watch the champions league just cause my team got kicked out, no real football fan would just stop watching. In 2001-2002 no Italian teams made the qf's. 2003= all Italian final- there's no real shame in going out to Bayern or Madrid and I genuinely don't believe English teams are in danger of being left behind, it just works in cycle. Congrats to Spain though, La Liga is definitely the best league in terms of quality if not entertainment.
Malaga had two shots from the first game which they had 0.. to the second game half time..if porto didn't get a red card they would of won in my humble opinion!
3 La Liga teams through, 0 Premier League teams through.
Malaga absolutely deserve to win.
Great goal of isco , he's a very good player.
@RGB- you do realise people from other countries support English teams too? Although I do agree with you, I'm a fan of football so why wouldn't I watch the champions league just cause my team got kicked out, no real football fan would just stop watching. In 2001-2002 no Italian teams made the qf's. 2003= all Italian final- there's no real shame in going out to Bayern or Madrid and I genuinely don't believe English teams are in danger of being left behind, it just works in cycle. Congrats to Spain though, La Liga is definitely the best league in terms of quality if not entertainment.
Malaga had two shots from the first game which they had 0.. to the second game half time..if porto didn't get a red card they would of won in my humble opinion!