While News Corp. Chairman and Global Media Titan Rupert Murdoch plans his next move in his impending divorce, he's also thinking about his worldwide empire and how he can create a new sporting event. The Guardian in the UK reports that Murdoch who owns channels in Italy, Germany, the UK, Asia and of course, the US, wants to start a new "Super League" soccer tournament that would involve teams from the English Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga and Spain's La Liga.
The Guardian says the tournament would be run in the summer when European leagues are in their offseason and teams normally go on overseas tours. The tournament would contain 16 teams and be held all over the globe with cities in Europe, Asia and the United States bidding to host games. In addition, Murdoch would not have to sell TV rights, the games would be aired on his networks – including Fox Sports 1 in the US which could use the inventory of live games.
Under the proposal, the tournament would begin in 2015 and run for at least ten years. Imagine Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich taking part. Games could be played in Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Communist China and New York.
According to the Guardian, a major factor for creating a "Super League" tournament is the loss of English Premier League games from Fox to NBC. Having some EPL teams on Fox Sports 1 would bring soccer fans back to Rupes' channels and take some attention away from the Peacock at least for a month.
And this is not the first time this idea has been broached. The proposed "Super League" has been brought up in 2009 and 2011, but never came to fruition.
Should the tournament become reality, expect plenty of promotion on the Fox Sports platforms beyond the extent of the "Premier League on NBC" campaign.
