UEFA plans to restructure the Champions League

Not sure where to post this (Mods please move if we have a thread for this), but UEFA is planning on re-formatting the UCL again

http://www.espnfc.us/uefa-champions-league/story/2835835/champions-league-format-change-proposed-reports

From the said article for the lazy:

ESPN wrote:The new format would involve an initial knockout round of 32 teams before the 16 winners advance into two groups of eight. The winners of those two "super leagues" would then advance to the final.

The format -- one of several proposals, according to Sky Sports -- would be similar to the final season of the European Cup in 1991-92, when there were two knockout rounds followed by two groups of four teams, with the winners advancing to a final.

However, this new proposal would ensure that teams reaching the group stage would play a minimum of 14 games after the knockout round, with the majority likely to come against big-name opposition.

The article also stated that the UCL is losing interest without actually giving any real data about the loss of interest. This new format definitely favours the clubs with the resources to build squads capable of such a heavy demand. Essentially, I do not like it.

It's basically yet another case of the biggest and richest trying to become bigger and richer.  Two groups of 8 and 14 matches means more games between the biggest clubs, which means more money. It might benefit the smaller clubs in the competition in the same way, but the league format decreases the chances of these clubs actually progressing.

I'm very much against taking away the knockout format. It creates a more competitive environment where upsets can happen and makes the tournament more fun. Large groups don't work nearly as well - see the Cricket World Cup and how much a drag the group stages are.

So yeah, current format >>> proposed format. If the CL is losing interest it's because the same teams are in the latter stages every year and no amount of format changes is going to change that.

I think what they don't realize is that the more match-ups of ever the same big teams actually devalues the competition and lets people turn off. I mean, just look at the reaction "X vs Y *again*" - *yawn*

I think if the audience decreases, maybe they should ponder whether it might be that too much of a good thing can easily turn it into a boring thing.

A KO stage THEN a group stage ?

no thanks .

Defeats the entire purpose of the competition.

Might as well do away with the formalities and scrap the competition all together and make a European super league where teams are invited based on who gets the best ratings.

Can you imagine the lulz when Basel progresses to the final group stage instead of United?

I agree though it hurts the little guy more

One thing I don't get from the article it days that teams that progress to the group stages would be guaranteed at least 14 games. Wouldn't it be 16?

2 from the knock out and 14 from the group?

I think (and again, I'm probably wrong here) the reason that the competition is getting boring is that its turning into a 3 horse race (Real, Barca, Bayern) with a few outsiders here and there. So pretty much people feel the group stage doesn't really mean much, and that the games don't really start to matter until the later stages (Quarterfinals on forward).

The way to fix this isn't to restructure of the format of the tournament, but instead implement a salary cap. If the super clubs can continue to snap up any player they want at any given time, then those middle table/small table clubs will continue to lose talent and never win anything while the big clubs will continue to pound those clubs and then duke it out between each other in the later stages of the UCL. With a salary cap, the the bigger clubs wouldn't be able to go ham and spend millions on players salarys and thus some of the big name players will end up at mid table clubs to get more money instead of taking less money to form a super team (like what Lebron did when he went to Miami). It would eventually start to even things out, and it would brake the similarity of each league (Chelsea, Utd, City pretty much only win EPL on a regular-Real, Barca at Liga, etc). And if teams like Barca/Real want to spend over the salary cap, then they should get penalized and that fee they would get charged would get poured into the rest of la Liga teams for example (I think that's how it works in USA sports)

If they re-format the contest, it's still in the end gonna just be the same big clubs fighting each other out. And people get bored when things get monotonous which is what's happening.

That said, I know they wouldn't add a salary cap with all the cash flowing into these clubs nowadays

If a team reaches the semis in the current format they'll play 6+2+2+2 = 12 games.

In the proposed format it would be 2+14 = 16 games. I suppose four games more isn't that bad, but on the other hand teams already play a lot of games. Teams already sometimes prioritize between their domestic and European games. I'd rather not see that increase.

But the biggest problem is that in a group of 8 where only the winner gets a reward, the CL final, in the latter rounds you would have a lot of games where one or both teams don't have realistic chances of winning the group any more. Who wants to watch that? It would be completely pointless and the managers would probably play second-string XIs anyway.