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Comment by patrickk | Hacker News Reader

I've read online (take it with a pinch of salt) that one of the reasons for the Premier League's global success is making sure that the "presentation" layer* of what the audience sees is pristine. Early investment by Sky Sports in HD technology and pristine pitches are part of this. Contrast that to say Serie A, where the camera feeds looked slightly "muddy" by comparison, and the pitches not as good.

* In some cases, it's really just a facade, e.g. with Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium. United's American owners have quite literally let the stadium rot, to the point where the roof is leaking and the wifi didn't work on match days, which is quite embarrassing for one of the most storied stadiums in world football. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B87aESnOWKg

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I think it's much more about the facts that

1) They speak English. Players, expert commentators (former players), managers etc. give interviews, tweet, comment etc. before, during and after the matches. It's a huge part of the product. You just don't get all that fuzz with Spanish, Italian, German, or French football. Those leagues can only sell the match itself internationally, not everything that surrounds it. Unless you speak Spanish, you don't know what Messi said about his hattrick in the last match or what he thinks about rumors of him changing club. You may not even know what he sounds like. You don't know his agent, his father, his brother, his wife, ex girlfriends etc. With Premier League players, that's part of the package. For better or worse.

2) So much Russian and Arab oil money floated to the clubs the last 20 years, not just as sponsorships but through actual buyouts of the clubs. Several of the best teams in continental clubs cannot be bought because they are owned by the fans.

> 1) They speak English

That's often a bit of a generous statement. They "speak" English yes, but not with anywhere near the sort of fluency that you would expect from someone on a multi-million salary who can afford to take some intensive English lessons.

I don't mind the footballers lack of fluency, since their job is to kick the ball around.

But the managers I'm far less forgiving, their job entails communicating with all relevant stakeholders, which involves interviews which they should be able to deliver in a fluent and comprehensible manner.

But that's the problem with English I guess. Its too "easy" as a language, you can get away with a severe lack of fluency and the other side will be able to put the pieces together.

Does it matter that a manager doesn't speak English well if he wins? Isn't that really what he was hired for?

In addition English clubs were the first to solve the hooligans problem and as such were the first to remove "prison camp" like fences between the pitch and public, giving games a fantastic atmosphere.

> were the first to remove "prison camp" like fences between the pitch and public

Google "Hillsborough disaster".

I suspect that had more to do with "removing prison camp fences" than a desire to give "fantastic atmostphere".

The “gentrification” of football arguably hurt the atmosphere, at least for the bigger premier league teams. There were far more working class local fans singing non stop during the bad old days. If you see older videos the atmosphere was off the wall compared to today (if you want to see truly bonkers atmosphere just look up Boca-River derby or Greek or Turkish football). It was an unfortunate side effect of cleaning up the game and turning it into a tourist magnet.

I have to disagree, the atmosphere in English stadiums is absolute trash. They've been gentrified to the point of death. I can't think of a league in Europe that doesn't have a better atmosphere that the PL. As an on-site spectator, the lower English leagues are much better.

Well the pitch part was simply competition, it started when one team decide to take pitch seriously and had competitive advantage, then everyone else had to do it. EPL is also the most competitive league, people were watching lots of it, there were money, and then incentives.... And as mentioned, expert commentators really set it apart.

Generally speaking football is about the only thing Brits give a damn about. Since all the incentives align, great things came out of it. ( Which also made football too commercial and not as fun to watch )

This sounds correct in my experience. Soccer matches in stadiums that were used for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa (SA) often play at the same time as English Premier League(EPL) matches. We often switch channels between matches in SA and UK and there is a a marked difference in the quality of just about everything. From the pitch to the camera work, commentary and the quality of the picture. It is obvious that a lot more money and planning goes into the EPL as a product.

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