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STILL KICKING: English Premier League (EPL) CEO Richard Scudamore said that EPL clubs are "well equipped to survive the credit crunch and gates will fall by only" 1% this season. Scudamore added that "banks' reluctance to lend money to clubs 'is not welcome.'" He said of the economy's impact on the league, "The alarm bells have not just been ringing since the credit crunch was known. We have been on about keeping people coming in for six, seven years. It has been a misnomer that clubs always sold out without trying." Scudamore believes that the recession will "encourage greater prudence among clubs." Scudamore: "There is a 'sobering' out there at the whole financial system. ... There is much less chance of Leeds United (almost folding under debts). The funders aren't going to take those chances -- which is good" (London TELEGRAPH, 1/13).

ARCH SUPPORT: In St. Louis, Bernie Miklasz writes MLS under Commissioner Don Garber's "outstanding leadership" has "dramatically outperformed the cynics' doom-and-gloom expectations and isn't going away." MLS "continues to grow and gets stronger each season." But it is "time to do the right thing and give an expansion franchise" to St. Louis-based attorney Jeff Cooper, who is leading the city's bid for a team. Cooper has a stadium "ready to break ground" and has "patiently put St. Louis into prime position to secure a team, but the MLS keeps kicking him in the shins by going to other markets" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/15).

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