In soccer, multiple leagues or seasons are played at once. The primary league everyone plays in is their domestic league. This would be English Premiere League, La Liga(Spain), Bundesliga(Germany). Spanish teams play other spanish teams and there is a promotion/relegation system in those leagues. Think of it like the major leagues along with AAA, AA, A etc. If you are one of the top 3 teams in AAA, you get promoted to the majors and the bottom three teams in the majors get sent down.

Now if you're(generally) one of the top 4 teams in the major leagues(EPL, La Liga), it earns you the right to play in a competition called the Champions League. While the domestic leagues are played for on the weekends, the Champions League is competed for on Tuesdays and Wedensdays during the week. European soccer seasons run August through May/June. So if you finished top 4 in Liga in the 2020-2021 season, you would qualify to compete in the 2021-2022 Champions League.

Now, there are 5 major soccer leagues in Europe(England, Spain, France, Germany, Italy) but each country has their own league. The major ones always get 3 or 4 teams qualified for the Champions League each year but the smaller country leagues(Belgium, Austria, Hungary, etc) qualify one, maybe 2 teams.

Champions league lasts as long as the domestic season but is a tournament so ultimately, there is a finale at the end of the season that determines the winner. UEFA, the European football body, controls the Champions League(UCL). It's a big cash cow but the teams get the money doled out by UEFA. Those major teams are the big draws too. They draw the most eyeballs, the most betting, the most interest.

Now why are the teams forming this Super League? Debt. The Spanish and Italian ones have a lot of it and want to try and pay it down by seizing the revenue stream the UCL creates and divvying it up themselves and not having to share. I think the English teams like the idea of a tournament that they no longer have to qualify for(top 4) but will make every year and give them guaranteed revenue. It's notable that Liverpool and Man United are owned by Americans where relegation/promotion is not a part of their major sports and all revenues in the professional leagues are shared equitably. That's not a thing in Europe. So the best teams spend like mad men because one off year and they don't qualify for Champions League and they lose on hundreds of millions of Euros/Pounds in revenue. It's created an unsustainable model, especially for the Spanish Clubs and also when oil oligarchs started buying European teams and spending like drunken sailors---it makes it harder to compete.

Enter Covid. This Superleague was always in talks but Covid inflicted severe financial pain on many of these clubs that make them desperate to get all that Superleague money to make up for their losses. My team, Barcelona, is the poster child for this. Real Madrid and Barcelona are a bit different because they're shareholder owned and they don't have an "owner" per se. So the boards and leadership spend money at those clubs like they're spending someone else's...which they are. I think the big English clubs want that guaranteed spot in the competition. There are 6 BIG English clubs and only 4 Champions League spots each year. You do the math.

They clearly did not see this pushback happening from their own fans. They expected the response from rival clubs and UEFA but their fan bases revolting was clearly not anticipated. I think we're still headed in this direction. It won't be now but the idea of participating in a European wide competition with guaranteed revenue each year is too much to pass up for those giant clubs. Interesting thing...the Spanish fan reaction was much more muted than the English one. The spanish fans know their clubs need the money and already treat their domestic competion like they run the show. It was interesting to see it all playout.