Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy 'Open-Minded' to Playing EPL Games Overseas

Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has said he would consider playing Premier League matches overseas in the future.

He told Cambridge University student newspaper Varsity (h/t Dan Kilpatrick of the Evening Standard):

"It's important that we are always open-minded to anything that is proposed.

"We are in an industry where we are competing for talent, viewership and sponsors with other leagues across the world alongside other sports, so we can never rule it out completely.

"In Spain, they are playing the Supercopa [de Espana] in Saudi Arabia this year, so we've got to be conscious that there needs to be a balance."

Per Kilpatrick, previous proposals of a 39th Premier League match played abroad as part of the regular season have been indefinitely put on hold.

Spanish football has attempted a similar idea in recent years. In 2018, La Liga President Javier Tebas signed a 15-year deal with Relevent Sports to play league matches in the United States.

The first match was slated to be a meeting between Girona and Barcelona⁠—which would have served as the former's home fixture⁠—in Miami in January last year, but it did not materialise after FIFA President Gianni Infantino opposed the idea.

Tebas had hoped for Villarreal's home match with Atletico Madrid to be played on U.S. soil this season, but a court ruled against the proposal. The Royal Spanish Football Federation managed to stage an expanded version of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia earlier in January, though, and it will do so until 2022 as part of a reported €120 million deal.

La Liga winners Barcelona and Copa del Rey champions Valencia were joined by Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, who finished second and third in the league, respectively.

Sports commentator and writer Andy West was among many to take issue with the event, particularly after Atletico and Real were the two teams to contest the final:

Football author Colin Millar also hit out at Saudi Arabia as a venue:

The Premier League is even more marketable, so there would no doubt be many clamouring to host a match if it did go overseas. Per football finance blog Swiss Ramble, England's top flight already generates far more revenue from TV rights than the rest of Europe's top five leagues:

Given Tebas' difficulties in getting a La Liga match hosted in the United States, the Premier League could face similar issues and opposition from governing bodies such as FIFA.

The Super Cup being played abroad⁠—as well as the Italian Super Cup, which has been played outside Italy 11 times since 1993⁠—could open the door to England's equivalent, the Community Shield, heading overseas.

However, that match would fall under the purview of the Football Association rather than the Premier League.