New Books In World Affairs

It’s the English Premier League’s birthday! On this day twenty years ago, all twenty-two clubs of the First Division resigned from the 104-year-old Football League and declared their plans to create a new, breakaway league.A lucrative television deal with Sky Sports followed soon after, bringing plenty of seed money to the new league.At the time, however, English football was not a certain investment.Attendance had been declining for decades, and in the EPL’s first season stadiums were filled to less than 70 per cent of capacity. In terms of revenue and star players, the top European leagues were in Spain and Italy.In fact, the EPL couldn’t even boast the biggest money-making club in Britain.That team was Rangers, playing in the Scottish league. What a difference two decades make.The EPL today is the biggest revenue-generating league in Europe, and its top clubs are among the valuable sports properties in the world.The league draws international investors, and its matches are televised in more than 200 cou