It's something the people in England have been lamenting for years. "The influx of money from foreign owners will ruin the game," they say. For the longest time I disagreed. Having owners willing to spend money is a great thing for the English Premier League and is the thing most likely to keep the league as competitive as it is. Then, this happened.
From a purely business standpoint, I understand where these owners are coming from. No one wants to buy a club and then have them relegated, whether it happens immediately or five seasons down the road, because that's a huge amount of money to lose out on. Four of the five American ownership groups own franchises in American sports and no matter how bad the Cleveland Browns are Randy Lerner (owner of Aston Villa) never has to worry about them getting relegated to the Big Ten.
Additionally it might allow the English Football Association to restructure the top division of English Football, much like they did back in 1991 when they formed the Premier League 1992. Teams that don't do well in attendance (Wigan Athletic) or play in less desirable locations (Stoke City). Teams like Portsmouth, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, etc. could be allowed to return to the top division instead.
However, eliminating relegation would ruin a lot of the drama that goes along with Premier League football. If there's no relegation, what do teams like Bolton Wanderers have to play for? It's not like they get the first pick in the draft by finishing last. All they get is less prize money. I would much rather follow Swansea City (or Blackpool from last year) on their rise to the top level than I would watch some crappy team play for no reason whatsoever.
To make this change a two-thirds majority would have to vote for it and even then the new rules would be subject to approval by the FA. The FA would be highly unlikely to sanction such a move, but depending on which clubs throw their weight behind this move they could be hard pressed to deny such a move.
This is a move that is, perhaps, good for business, but definitely not for football. What are your thoughts?