Football's global marketplace

But the reality is that the globalisation of sport, especially football, means that it will certainly happen before too long - and why not?

There is nothing new about sport being played on neutral grounds to raise revenues and also to give overseas fans the chance to see their heroes. In the UAE, we saw the Sharjah cricket ground host international matches for nearly 20 years and more recently India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have played one day internationals in Abu Dhabi.

There were also 22 official one day internationals involving India and Pakistan in Toronto in the late 1990s. The closest parallel to the Premier League proposal is, however, the playing of a regular season American Football game in London last year - and another is planned for later in 2008. A number of participants in these NFL matches were interviewed during the Super Bowl and they were very enthusiastic - as were the British fans.

Promoting the brand

The top Premier League clubs are increasingly global brands and for their brands to be promoted and exploited it is very beneficial for them to be seen 'live' in a match that matters.

The recent visit of Manchester United to Saudi Arabia, where they played a friendly against local club Al-Hilal, raised some eyebrows. But United cleared a couple of million dollars from the trip and their brand was visibly on display in a packed King Fahd Stadium and on local television.

Imagine how much more hype (and money) would be raised if the next match in Riyadh is between United and Chelsea. And in Dubai surely the prospect of Liverpool appearing in a League fixture in the emirate would be increased if, as is reported, Dubai International Capital launches a new a billion dollar bid to buy the English club. He who pays the piper calls the tune!

The reality is that the money-rich sports like American Football and soccer are already global in their scope, ownership, funding and appeal. When the American Malcolm Glazier acquired control of Manchester United he did so not because of any love for the game or any ties with the city of Manchester - but because he could spot a good investment.

The model that he developed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is now being applied at United with some success - and the Manchester United brand is now arguably the strongest club brand in the world. The power of football to engage with people is phenomenal - a few years ago research conducted for an international communications agency showed, amazingly, that Real Madrid was a stronger brand in Spain than Ferrari was in Italy.

And whilst both Real Madrid and Ferrari are both skilled practitioners in the art of giving their brands worldwide exposure it is the football brand which will be the clear commercial winner.

Global sports, like football and cricket, operate as multi-billion dollar businesses in which the games are the products and fans are the consumers. Traditionalists argue that such sports are about the innocence of youth, the spirit of competition, and the integrity and the sportsmanship of the game.

But modern sports have to be commercial to survive - which is a potential source of conflict with the fans. Matches are scheduled to take place at times when the advertising revenue from TV can be maximised - not necessarily at times when the fans can most easily attend the matches.

And in today's increasingly celebrity-based culture it is naïve to assume that the only things that matters to a fan are the skills of his favourite players and the success of his team. Many fans are as interested in the off-the-field antics of their celeb sporting heroes as they are in their performances.

Premier League owners want returns

Even Chelsea owner Roman Abramowitz, who bought the club with a few spare hundred millions he found in a bottom drawer somewhere, is not just in football for the fame and the buzz. Whilst the basic economics of Chelsea are crazy I doubt that the Russian oiligarch will continue to bankroll the club indefinitely.

And part of the business model for Chelsea and the other top English clubs is undoubtedly to exploit their strong brands outside of England. My guess is that these imperatives will not only lead to the occasional Premier League match being played in Dubai, Dallas or Delhi but quite soon to the formation of a European League.

The marketability of Real Madrid v Arsenal has to be better than Reading v Portsmouth and the football money men will soon see that a Premier League in which more than half of the clubs have no chance of winning is sub optimum money-wise. The commercial revolution in club football has only just begun!