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Sunday, May 25, 2025

Premier League Says No to U.S. Regular-Season Games

Every major U.S. men’s pro league wants to play more games internationally, including some in England, but that country’s Premier League has a much more homebound strategy. 

Aug 3, 2024; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior (7) in action during the second half against Barcelona at MetLife Stadium.
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

While every major U.S. men’s pro sports league is pushing to play as many international games as possible, England’s Premier League wants nothing of the sort. 

Premier League chief football officer Tony Scholes said Tuesday there is “no interest in playing [regular-season] games abroad,” including in the U.S. That sentiment arrives despite a legal settlement last year in which FIFA will no longer block domestic games being played in the territories of other federations. 

LaLiga, which battles the Premier League for global supremacy in pro soccer, has long sought to have matches in the U.S., particularly its famed El Clásico rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Premier League, however, has no plans to play in the U.S. beyond offseason friendlies. 

“We don’t feel the need to come play in the U.S. during the season proper, and you’ll understand the challenges that would present in the U.K. as well,” Scholes said in response to a Front Office Sports question during a midseason briefing with U.S. media outlets. 

Contrasting Strategies

The Premier League’s sentiment directly counters an accelerating global push across many major U.S. leagues to play regular-season games outside of North America. Among the recent efforts:

“[Playing internationally] is not on our agenda, and no discussions are taking place,” Scholes said.

Rising Parity

Scholes, meanwhile, lauded the current competitive state of the Premier League, which is showing considerably more balance than it has in many years. After Manchester City won the last four league titles in unprecedented fashion, and six of the last seven, that club now stands in fifth place, 15 points behind first-place Liverpool. 

More notable is the ongoing rise of third-place Nottingham Forest, playing in just its third season back in the Premier League after a quarter-century in lower tiers of competition. Bournemouth, meanwhile, is in seventh place, and pushing for a potential spot in the Champions League after previously falling to as low as the fourth tier of England’s soccer pyramid.

“Who would have predicted at this stage of the season, more than halfway through, that Nottingham Forest would be in third place, being realistic challengers if not for the title but for the Champions League?” Scholes said.

Scholes credited a number of factors for the rising parity, including better coaching and player development, and a somewhat more even revenue distribution within the Premier League compared to other entities in the sport.

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