Liverpool Chairman ‘Determined’ to Have Premier League Game Played in New York City

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner is pushing for English Premier League matches to be held in New York City and other major cities across the world.

In an interview with the Financial Times (h/t Will Unwin of The Guardian), Werner laid out his vision for taking EPL action outside of England:

“I’m determined one day to have a Premier League game be played in New York City. I even have the sort of crazy idea that there would be a day where we play one game in Tokyo, one game a few hours later in Los Angeles, one game a few hours later in Rio, one game a few hours later in Riyadh and make it sort of a day where football, where the Premier League, is celebrated.”

As of now, all EPL games are required to be played in England, but changes to those rules can be made after FIFA reached a settlement with Relevent Sports, which opened the door for “consideration of changes to existing FIFA policies with respect to playing official season games outside of a league’s home territory.”

Although Werner has grandiose ideas of taking the EPL abroad, Liverpool, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins owner John Henry is not aligned with that thinking, saying it is “not something that I advocate or am particularly interested in.”

While official EPL matches cannot be played in the United States or other countries, many EPL clubs have done exhibition tours of the U.S.

Per Unwin, an exhibition between Manchester United and Arsenal at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, even drew 82,262 fans.

Several EPL clubs are hugely popular across the world with Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea being among them, and there is little doubt they could draw large crowds outside of England if given the opportunity.

Should FIFA ultimately allow for it to happen, it could mark the start of soccer following in the footsteps of what the NFL has done.

The NFL has been playing regular-season games in London for several years, and it has since expanded to other countries as well, including Germany, Brazil and Mexico.

The NFL has long been the most popular sports league in the United States, but allowing games to be played outside the U.S. and increased the global influence of the league and the sport as a whole.

Soccer’s place as the most popular sport in Europe has long been secured, however, a foray into a market as significant as the United States could take the EPL and soccer to the next level internationally.