StinkyBoHoon
National Board President
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2009
- Location
- Glasgow, Scotland
the format increase to 24 teams is a different issue, which I can't decide about really, selfishly it makes it realistic that scotland will qualify so I'm ok about it but I don't think we really needed more teams to work. the increased number in games though will definitely suit a multi country event, there would be danger of burn out and spectator interest dwindling.
europe wise, yes, there's no denying that having it one country would be cheaper for fans following one team (unless it was in russia and they were scheduling games off the coast of japan then in moscow the next week). but it can definitely be done sensibly 4 centres based around 3 stadiums. athens/istanbul/sofia, glasgow/dublin/cardiff, budapest/bucharest/prague, helsinki/copenhagen/stockholm. alternatively you could just splash it about everywhere, it would mean that no matter where you were, there would be at least one game where it was feasible to see your team. if it was played in turkey this year, that's a pretty long trek for a german fan, but if it was played all over then you'd easily be able to catch a game when they played in one of the scandanavian countries next door. so it depends if you want to cater to diehard fans or increase the accesibility.
it is worth remembering this is a one off, some fans it will suit, some it won't. just like every major tournament. it's impossible for it to open it up to every demographic (for example, the olympics in 2012 were cheaper for every european to attend than the beijing one, but the beijing one was cheaper for everyone in asia, no group should matter more than another all the time). in the last 30 years someone in one of the smaller cities has been in the position where they will have had to pay flights and accomodation if they want to see a game at a euro or world cup. someone from france, germany, portugal, holland, italy, england, etc has had the opportunity to see the same by simply travelling to the nearest major city.
I think it's a really good idea, and one which I hope they insert into the rotation in some form every now and again to keep things fresh.
europe wise, yes, there's no denying that having it one country would be cheaper for fans following one team (unless it was in russia and they were scheduling games off the coast of japan then in moscow the next week). but it can definitely be done sensibly 4 centres based around 3 stadiums. athens/istanbul/sofia, glasgow/dublin/cardiff, budapest/bucharest/prague, helsinki/copenhagen/stockholm. alternatively you could just splash it about everywhere, it would mean that no matter where you were, there would be at least one game where it was feasible to see your team. if it was played in turkey this year, that's a pretty long trek for a german fan, but if it was played all over then you'd easily be able to catch a game when they played in one of the scandanavian countries next door. so it depends if you want to cater to diehard fans or increase the accesibility.
it is worth remembering this is a one off, some fans it will suit, some it won't. just like every major tournament. it's impossible for it to open it up to every demographic (for example, the olympics in 2012 were cheaper for every european to attend than the beijing one, but the beijing one was cheaper for everyone in asia, no group should matter more than another all the time). in the last 30 years someone in one of the smaller cities has been in the position where they will have had to pay flights and accomodation if they want to see a game at a euro or world cup. someone from france, germany, portugal, holland, italy, england, etc has had the opportunity to see the same by simply travelling to the nearest major city.
I think it's a really good idea, and one which I hope they insert into the rotation in some form every now and again to keep things fresh.
