"The most-followed professional sports league on Earth is increasingly an American one, but it's not the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball. Despite their impressive strides in growing global audiences and reach, homegrown U.S. sports aren't the world's biggest draw. Instead, American teams are buying into the world's most popular sport - the other football - via the global all-star English Premier League."
"Will thrice runners-up Arsenal (which shares owners with the Los Angeles Rams) be able to dethrone Liverpool (owned by the Red Sox's Fenway Sports Group)? Will heavy spenders Chelsea (which shares owners with the Dodgers and the Lakers) once again vie for the league title, fresh off its improbable FIFA Club World Cup win this summer? And will San Francisco 49ers-owned Leeds United gain a permanent foothold in the league after being promoted from the lower division last season?"
"Perhaps the most compelling Premier League storyline is the fast-accelerating American takeover of soccer/football and what it tells us about the globalization of American culture. Suddenly, Americans are far more connected to the rest of the world than previous generations were, thanks to sport, our age's leading pastime and most important form of media. When I first moved to the United States as a teenager in the 1980s, Americans didn't play much with others."
Eleven of the 20 English Premier League clubs entered the 2025-2026 season under U.S. ownership, reflecting substantial American investment in global soccer. Prominent examples include Arsenal (linked to the Los Angeles Rams), Liverpool (owned by Fenway Sports Group), Chelsea (linked to Dodgers and Lakers ownership) and Leeds United (owned by the San Francisco 49ers). Chelsea recently won the FIFA Club World Cup, and promoted Leeds aims to establish itself in the top flight. The shift illustrates increasing American cultural integration with the rest of the world through sport and growing transatlantic ties in professional football.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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