Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore has insisted the Premier League will “pull out all the stops” to resist any attempt to play Champions League matches at weekends or introduce guaranteed places for bigger clubs, according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. Both ideas "have been floated" by senior UEFA insiders as European football’s governing body considers "how to revamp the competition" from '18-19 onward and "head off renewed talk of a breakaway competition among bigger clubs." In "light of the increase in viewers and profile sparked by moving the final to Saturday one idea being mooted is to move some Champions League matches to weekends during the later rounds." Another suggestion from some sides, also being discussed by the European Club Association, is that qualification "would be based on a side’s record over three seasons -- making it less likely that the usual contestants would miss out." But Scudamore said that the Premier League would "strongly resist any such suggestion." The organization’s exec chair said that if other European leagues wish to consider awarding their Champions League places in a different way, they can but that the English top flight would remain "an open competition." Scudamore said, "If you land in the first four places, you are in the Champions League and it is as simple as that. The idea you might average the qualification over a number of years just seems completely ridiculous." Given the Premier League’s new £8.3B ($12M) TV deal, "much of the pressure for changes to European competition has come from clubs in Spain and Italy" and Scudamore said that "he was perhaps minded to let national associations decide for themselves" in conjunction with UEFA. He said, "We are quite happy with our qualification system in England for our places" (GUARDIAN, 5/13).
