Clint Dempsey May Have Left the Premier League, but the US Invasion Continues

Clint Dempsey may have left the Premier League for the Seattle Sounders and MLS, but his transfer will have little effect on the American invasion of the league.

The main reason for that is because, even though this is a World Cup year, the EPL is not being invaded by American players; it is being invaded by American owners.

In 2010, Bleacher Report previewed the nine American players plying their trade in the Premier League. In 2013, statistics acquired by The Independent show that the amount of Americans playing in the EPL had fallen by one, to eight.

Altogether, only 37 American players have ever played in the reconfigured English top flight. The first, incidentally, was Roy Wegerle way back in 1992.

Considering that around 400 players get to play in the EPL each season, the percentage of American participants is quite small, even if it is significant.

Now, compare the playing figures to ownership figures.

Of the 20 Premier League teams, six are owned by Americans. 

American players account for around two percent of the EPL's players.

American owners account for 30 percent of the EPL's owners. 

That is a monstrous figure considering the league's in England.

When Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan successfully completed his takeover of Fulham from Mohamed Al-Fayed, he became the sixth American businessman to own a club in the league.

According to Forbes, Khan, who moved to the United States from Pakistan at the age of 16, is worth £2.9 billion from his company Flex-N-Gate, which manufactures automobile parts.

He bought the Cottagers for the paltry sum of $300 million, according to Forbes, and rumors began to rise almost immediately that he was thinking of moving the Jaguars franchise to London.

In truth, these rumors began in 2012 when Khan hinted to Steve Anglesey of the Daily Mirror that a future move was possible.

The list of American owners and year they took over in the Premier League is as follows:

• Malcolm Glazer, Manchester United (2005)
• Randy Lerner, Aston Villa (2006)
• Ellis Short, Sunderland (2009)
• John W. Henry, Liverpool (2010)
• Stan Kroenke, Arsenal (2011)
• Shahid Khan, Fulham (2013)

This grouping of American businessmen is worth an estimated £7 billion between them.

They also have, or in Lerner's case had, ties with American sporting franchises:

• Shahid Khan: Jacksonville Jaguars
• Randy Lerner: Cleveland Browns
• Malcolm Glazer: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Ellis Short: None
• John W. Henry: Roush Fenway Racing, Boston Red Sox
• Stan Kroenke: Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Rams, Colorado Rapids

So why all the sudden interest in the Premier League?

In 2005, when Malcolm Glazer had acquired enough shares to become the outright owner of Manchester United, he was the lone American owner in the league.

Since then, American owners have come and gone in the shape of George Gillett and Tom Hicks, but their figures have steadily risen over the last eight years. Perhaps the biggest shock for many EPL fans is that three of the jewels in the crown are now American-owned.

Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal are three of the biggest and richest clubs in the world and are now the possession of businessmen in the United States.

The main reason for their substantial investment is undoubtedly money. 

While the NFL may garner massive worldwide audiences around the Super Bowl, the Premier League's viewership and ability to penetrate into global markets make them a franchise worth investing in.

All one has to do is look at the fervent reception Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Manchester City and even Sunderland were given in the Western Hemisphere this summer. They were feted like Gods, and jersey sales went through the roof judging by fans wearing merchandise in the crowd.

In May, the REPUCOM Kit Supplier Report found that Premier League jersey sales had risen by 32 percent from the previous season due to the entrance of North American sports-clothing designers Warrior and Under Armour.

Traditionally, these two companies' main sales ground is North America.

It is unclear in the report if North American sales figures had risen because of new interest, but what is clear is that North America is a hugely important region for Premier League jersey sales.

Figures released by Sporting ID to the official Premier League website show that American fans are as fanatical about the EPL as anywhere else on the planet. Strangely enough, Clint Dempsey's jersey sales feature quite high in the top 10. As a marketing ploy, perhaps it was a bad deal for Spurs to let the forward return to MLS.

Add in the new Sky TV deal, and there has never been a better time to own an EPL franchise.

The new TV deal, which kicks off this season, sees a 71-percent increase over the last deal and is worth £3 billion to the league over three seasons, according to The Guardian.

By the time the next TV deal comes around for negotiation in 2016, there is a very good chance that instances of American ownership in the Premier League may have climbed again.

If that happens, then the dreaded 39th game might become a reality.

You can follow me on Twitter @WillieGannon. 

And listen to me on the Hold the Back Page podcast.