This summer's pre-season friendlies in the United States have taken on a new significance, as legal and commercial pressures push the Premier League toward staging competitive matches overseas. A recent match between Manchester United and Arsenal in Inglewood, California, saw key injuries to United's Rasmus Højlund and Leny Yoro, but the bigger story lies in a pending lawsuit that could fundamentally alter the football calendar.
The catalyst is a 2019 lawsuit filed by event promoter Relevent Sports against US Soccer and Fifa, after US Soccer denied a licence to stage an Ecuadorian league match in the US. Earlier this year, Fifa reached a deal to remove itself from the suit, promising to change its statute prohibiting domestic league matches being played abroad. While the statute remains in place, its removal is now considered inevitable, paving the way for Premier League games on US soil.
This has created a strange middle ground for the current US tour: the games are no longer harmless pre-season fun but a harbinger of a future where clubs play meaningful matches in far-flung locations. Grassroots fans feel aggrieved, seeing this as a betrayal of the communities that built the clubs, akin to the European Super League controversy.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has noted the commercial logic, pointing out that much Premier League revenue comes from TV rights and that overseas fans deserve competitive games. Estimates suggest pre-season tours already generate over $10 million per club, and with record attendances such as 109,000 for a 2014 friendly in Michigan, the appetite is clear.
