Before their English Premier League game against Chelsea this week, players from the small coastal club Brighton and Hove Albion wore t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, “Earn it; football is for the fans.”
That sentiment proved to be far more than an empty platitude over the following days. The plan for a dozen gigantic European football clubs to break away and form their own lucrative continental competition imploded in spectacular fashion. Widespread fan rejection catalyzed the colossal collapse. For American onlookers, it seems odd that fans would take a position on how their teams generate revenue and downright bizarre that the same fans would have the wherewithal to oppose and even prevent such brazen money grubbing.