New Jersey governor Phil Murphy says he “would die” to bring Premier League matches to the United States, explaining that he believes it is in the competition’s “enlightened self-interest” to do so.
Murphy, 66, has been involved in football for several decades, including serving on the board of U.S. Soccer and co-owning the NWSL team NJ/NY Gotham FC.
MetLife Stadium, the 82,500-capacity arena situated in New Jersey, will be the venue for the 2026 World Cup final and hosted a friendly between Manchester United and Arsenal last year, as well as three games — two group fixtures and a semi-final — at the Copa America this summer. Real Madrid and Barcelona will play a Clasico pre-season friendly there on August 3.
Asked whether he envisaged these matches becoming competitive fixtures, Murphy replied: “I would die for that. And by the way, the exhibitions — we will have Real and Barcelona on August 3, we’ll have to shrink our capacity a little bit for FIFA — every ticket was sold and the game didn’t count. I would love to — I would die — to see what happens in a game that counts. It would sell every ticket and then some.”
Leading executives at NBC Sports, the American broadcaster that spent $2.7billion (£2.2bn) on a six-year Premier League deal, have been pushing for an in-season match to be played in the United States each season. Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, said the “door looks ajar” for a game to be played overseas, while also stressing it is not “part of their current plans”.
Murphy is keen to bring English Premier League fixtures to the U.S. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
This idea has proved extremely unpopular with British-based fans, with the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) stating it would attack the idea with “a full-blown, two feet off the ground, studs to the knee tackle”.
Asked how he could justify the idea to such detractors, Murphy replied: “I’d probably go to the NFL and get their advice. They added an extra game — it wasn’t explicitly for European or non-U.S. games, but that helped them a lot, because instead of having 16 games where you’ve got eight home and eight away, they took the nine home game crowd, targeted them, and then put a lot of goodies in store (to make it worthwhile).
“I think you’ve also got to make the case to say that this is in their enlightened self interest, even though it may not appear to be in their immediate self-interest. I think you could make the argument that you may not like it today, but ultimately this is good for the game.”
Murphy also met with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin ahead of the Euros final. On whether taking UEFA Champions League games to the United States was also discussed, Murphy said: “I don’t want to talk about a private discussion, but I will say this, I have been so publicly in supportive of this, he probably didn’t need to ask my opinion. Everybody on the planet knows that I would love to see (these games). We would all love to see (this) not just me — a game that matters.
“Again, I’m all for the exhibitions. We sell every ticket to these games. We love them, but we would die for a game that counts, either in a domestic league or in a Champions League setting.”
(Top photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)
