British Invasion, Part II; English Premiership Is Now a Global Brand

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It’s been nearly 50 years already since the world went wild for those four boys from Liverpool. And almost a half-century removed from what is known as the British Invasion, Part II is going on as we speak.

Thanks to the English Premiership, football is now officially global.

It always has been in places other than the United States and Australia. Its ban on football was nothing short of resentment for anything British. America had its own football, basketball, and baseball, while Aussies grow up playing their own version of football, cricket, and rugby.

Now, you have three ways you can watch the English Premiership on television in America. And just two decades ago, English football was a late night fill-in on local sports networks markets across the country.

It developed a cult following before the thought of the Premiership had even taken place in the old Football League First Division.

Then Eric Cantona came to Old Trafford in Manchester from France via Leeds, and the Premiership was born. Cantona became an international face English football had been lacking.

Alex Ferguson—now Sir Alex Ferguson, a title you don’t earn if you do anything average—took Cantona’s marketability and ran with it.

Cantona is the reason why Manchester United is what it is today. Cantona is the reason why English football was the first-choice in almost every household in the world. Cantona got Americans and Australians paying attention.

Suddenly, everybody was chasing Manchester United for domestic supremacy, even Liverpool, the most vaunted of all English clubs.

Liverpool was English football until Sir Alex said, “We’re gonna try to knock Liverpool down a reg.” Strong words, but Ferguson and Manchester United have backed them up.

Liverpool has been left standing by Manchester United. And even Arsenal and Chelsea—those silly, silly Londoners for many years—had passed Liverpool.

Now there are two majorly budding leagues in America and Australia, thanks to English football. Unlike when it was first formed, Major League Soccer is a very respectable league. English football fans don’t believe it yet, but it is.

Most MLS teams would survive in the Coca-Cola League Championship. One or two could possibly stay up in the Premiership. America does not have its Manchester United yet, but one will emerge.

One club will be a household name like the New York Cosmos of yesteryear in America before the year 2020. If you want a tip on the club to put money on, send it towards the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Australia’s domestic league, the Hyundai A-League, is improving every single season. There are some solid clubs in Australia and the league will only continue to get better.

American soccer fans are tired of the MLS playoffs, evident of how far America has come as a footballing nation. If you were to take a poll of MLS fans in America, at least 70 percent of them would be in favor of scrapping the playoff system for a table format. It is the one last thing MLS is holding onto to separate itself from the world, yet isolating it from its fans in America.

The English Premiership and Spanish La Liga—without question the top two leagues in the world at the moment and leaving Italy’s Serie A in the dust—take up valuable weekend space on ESPN and ESPN2 now.

This is a network that has made its legacy predicated on American college football, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association. It means, clearly, Americans are paying attention.

Sky Sports broadcasting legend Andy Gray was even brought in by ESPN for Euro 2008. American fans loved every single second of it. ESPN needs to do the same for the World Cup this summer and let him do whatever he wants.

Gray is the best color analyst in any sport in the world—period. American soccer writer Grant Wahl, just a week after Euro 2008 started, called Gray “already the best American soccer analyst ever.” And if there is an American that knows his stuff, it’s Wahl.

Fox Soccer Channel—formerly known as Fox Sports World until the network couldn’t even fight it anymore, going completely soccer—paid some big money to secure UEFA Champions League rights away from ESPN. It was a huge deal for soccer in America.

Fox could make the game more popular in America overnight if it wants. Fox can put the semifinals of the Champions League on its main network just to see what happens.

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