Originally Posted by
Philosophizer
I love the idea of a proper pyramid structure. But by just having one top division we automatically decrease the amount of Uefa funding we get, which would probably work against the proposal to increase prize money. But hey maybe with a 16 team league, teams like Waterford/Athlone could start getting decent numbers at matches, which might negate the deduction in Uefa money for not having 2 divisions. Anyone know how much Uefa money we’d lose for not having 2 divisions?
But an 11-team playoff for a Europa league spot?? That sounds weird. Why not make it an 8-team playoff so that you can at least make it a simple quarter, semis and a final. Seems like a desperate attempt to get a few extra matches into the domestic schedule because a 16 team league would mean only 30 league games. Also, we could end up with our 10th placed team representing us in the Europa league, which wouldn’t be ideal.
All in all though, seems a good proposal, but it doesn’t cover the topics of marketing/promotion and community endeavours. I fear the clubs are once again purely focusing on the on-field matters, while ignoring the business/community. One good suggestion by Conroy was the re-establishment of a Club Development officer, which should definitely be re-introduced with any league revamp.