Every once in a while, people talk about the English Premier League playing regular-season games in the United States.
Not just the summer exhibitions that have brought big English clubs over here for years, and will probably do so again this year. Philadelphia has gotten a taste of that in recent times: the six-team Premier League Summer Series in 2023 and an Arsenal-Liverpool friendly last year drew huge crowds to Lincoln Financial Field.
They also aren’t just talking about this summer’s Club World Cup that EPL titans Manchester City and Chelsea will play in, including at the Linc.
No, they mean real regular-season games, the kind that American sports always take to other countries. Why shouldn’t the world’s most famous soccer league do the same?
There are people for it in England who would make a lot of money. There are people for it in the U.S. who would make a lot of money, with Comcast at the front of the line. The Philadelphia-based conglomerate has spent billions of dollars over the years to buy Premier League broadcast rights for NBC Sports, Telemundo, and Peacock.
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Last year, Jon Miller, NBC Sports’ president of acquisitions and partnerships, told the Athletic he was “very much” in favor of it, and would “continue to push for” it with people he knows at the league.
“At some point,” Miller said, “we would love to see a couple of Premier League games open the season here in big stadiums on our opening weekend.”
But there are a lot more people against it, including the vast majority of the English public. The Premier League regular season, like most soccer leagues (not the MLS), is a strict round-robin, where all 20 teams host the other 19 at some point during the season.
Fans don’t want any games taken away, whether against big clubs or small ones, home or away. Unlike NFL fans who watch their teams surrender home games to go abroad, protests in England against moving games are much louder — and have reached the government.
The cheerleaders and critics alike will pay attention to some news made by the Premier League’s chief football officer, Tony Scholes, in a media event with The Inquirer and other American outlets on Tuesday. Asked what the prospects are for bringing regular-season games here, he said it isn’t happening any time soon.
“Thankfully, we don’t feel the need to come and play in the U.S. during the season,” Scholes said. “And you’ll understand the challenges that that would present in the U.K. as well. So it’s not on our agenda. No discussions are taking place on it.”
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That doesn’t mean there won’t be discussions again someday. There surely will be, especially if other leagues start moving regular-season games. Mexico’s Liga MX has been discussing it, and Spain’s La Liga almost moved one this season after FIFA (and a U.S. court) helped clear the way.
But at the moment, the Premier League is staying put.
“Our position as the Premier League is that we’ve got no intention of playing games abroad,” Scholes said.
His words were firm enough that they might stop the chatter for now. After he spoke, an NBC Sports spokesperson told The Inquirer: “We look forward to continuing to present Premier League matches from the grounds in the U.K.”
But the league likely knows the idea won’t ever fully go away, whether on England’s shores or in Comcast’s hometown.
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