Patrick Kavanagh: Who’ll step up to bat for the League Cup?
The Drum blogger Patrick Kavanagh takes a look at what will happen now Carling has pulled out of the League Cup as sponsor after 14 years.
In baseball there is a term for the leagues below Major League Baseball (also known as ‘The Show’): that name is the ‘minor leagues’. The minor leagues have a tiered system similar to that of the Football League, consisting of AAA, AA, A+, A and Rookie Ball. In some team systems, there can be six or seven tiers. In a certain way this is similar to the academy system for each football club or for the national side, but the core difference being the Major League Baseball system is a development system without the age restrictions.
There are some minor league teams with some great history, and there have even been Hollywood movies made about minor league teams. The movie Bull Durham comes to mind: starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon, it is a tale of the types of characters in minor league baseball and talks of the lore of the game. It has become a cult baseball movie classic.
Why this (extremely brief) history of minor league baseball? Well, that is the way I see the nPower Football League in some ways, with the core difference that the teams have the tease of making the Premier League one day. And this is a very big difference.
One way to showcase yourself as a strong up-and-coming team with a chance for that Premier League dream is during the League Cup, when relative minnows get a chance to battle the big boys. They get a chance against Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea. In essence, this is a minor league team getting to play against major league competition – or is it?
The League Cup does not inspire teams any longer, in my estimation, and there is no more proof needed than to see what type of teams Premier clubs field. In the main, you get a mix of fringe players and academy kids playing for what is meant to be a major trophy. What am I saying here? I’m suggesting that the League Cup is a minor league trophy for minor league players, at least until the semi-finals when teams start to see it as a chance for silverware. In some cases, it’s a shot at a modicum of success in what is a league dominated by a few big spenders.
Even though the Football League claims that the League Cup is watched in “150 countries”, the semi-finals and the finals might be seen in 150 countries, but Wycombe vs. Colchester will not likely be seen anywhere except in Wycombe and Colchester.
It is no surprise that Carling has pulled out of the League Cup as sponsor after 14 years. Once sponsors of a prominent British competition, they are now a major league brand sponsoring a minor league trophy. In a similar case, Coca-Cola pulled out of the Football League sponsorship, which is another example of a major league brand supporting a minor league sporting organization. In this instance a UK brand jumped in to sponsor the nPower Football League. This may have to be the same strategy for the League Cup; a British brand will have to step up to the plate.
I have no doubts that they’ll find a sponsor. It’ll just have to be a little more regional, as that’s what the League Cup has become.