Chelsea’s Todd Boehly wants Premier League North v South All-Star match

Todd Boehly wants to launch a Premier League North versus South All-Star match. The Chelsea chairman has revealed plans to revolutionise elements of English football to try to boost broadcast revenue.

Chelsea’s co-controlling owner, who also owns shares in the Los Angeles Dodgers in Major League Baseball and the Lakers in the NBA, told a New York conference he had floated the idea with Premier League counterparts.

“Ultimately I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports,” said Boehly. “And really starts to figure out, why don’t we do a tournament with the bottom four sports teams, why isn’t there an All-Star game?

“People are talking about more money for the pyramid; in the MLB All-Star game this year we made $200m from a Monday and a Tuesday. So we’re thinking we could do a North versus South All-Star game for the Premier League, for whatever the pyramid needed quite easily.”

Boehly was talking at the Salt thought leaders conference in New York. When asked for his views on relegation given US sports do not engage with the idea – often leading to claims of teams “tanking” for an improved draft pick – Boehly replied: “The economics of going into the Championship are materially different. When you go into the Championship those numbers fall off a cliff. So there’s no one thinking about tanking, and those relegation games are some of the highest broadcast games.”

Asked what his fellow football club owners think about the All-Star game idea, Boehly said: “Everyone likes the idea of more revenue for the league. I think there’s a real cultural aspect, I think evolution will come.”

On Tuesday night Jürgen Klopp sounded less than impressed. “He doesn’t wait long,” Liverpool’s manager said. “When