Stepping into the international dustup about a proposed “European Super League” of elite soccer teams, Amazon declared Tuesday that the formation of the new league was not in the competitive spirit of continental soccer.
“We believe part of the drama and beauty of European football comes from the ability of any club to achieve success through their performances on the pitch,” Amazon’s Prime Video Sport tweeted out in a statement.
Prior to weighing in on the proposed league, the online retail and cloud computing giant had been seen as a possible league sponsor given its existing streaming deals with the Premier League in England, the Bundesliga in Germany, Serie A in Italy, and the existing UEFA Champions League, which the Super League could supplant.
The proposed new league would skim the elite teams from the existing top leagues and form its own governance structure to make the Super League. It would eliminate the traditions of relegation and promotion to more closely mirror pro sports leagues in the U.S.
But most importantly, it also would retain the billions of broadcast dollars that now is spread among several leagues and associations.
Here’s the full tweet:
Amazon Prime Video statement on the proposed Super League: pic.twitter.com/FCHc94yDns
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 20, 2021
The existing domestic and regional European leagues, including the worldwide soccer governing body FIFA — the organization that controls the World Cup — took a dim view of the idea and threatened retaliation. And without immediate backing from a company of Amazon’s size, wealth, and technological capability, the proposal already appears to be in trouble:
BREAKING: Manchester City is next via @MartinLipton pic.twitter.com/pg4kYcCpLJ
— Sportico (@Sportico) April 20, 2021
The idea of Amazon as a potential league backer comes at a time when the company increasingly has claimed a share of the lucrative sports and esports streaming market.
In 2015, it purchased Twitch for $970 million — one of its most popular games among viewers is FIFA — and just one month ago, it paid $1 billion annually for exclusive streaming rights to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football for the next 11 years.
