The European Super League has been a topic that has dominated the sports landscape since it was announced on Sunday. Twelve of the soccer world's most high-profile clubs are planning to form a breakaway league.
During Monday's episode of "The Late Late Show," host James Corden -- a lifelong West Ham supporter -- delivered a passionate speech in which he called the Super League "the end of the sport we love."
"Those owners took something so pure and so beautiful and they beat the love and joy out of it. They just did it for money, and it's disgusting."@JKCorden doesn't hold back on the @latelateshow pic.twitter.com/pz7VopA73l
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) April 20, 2021
Corden directed a large amount of his frustration toward the owners of the clubs that are set to become founding members of the Super League:
"The truth is that this whole thing, making this move, these teams, these owners are killing. They will kill hundreds of other football teams that compete with them and have competed with them over the years, disregarding the fanbases of those teams and of their own teams who are also devastated."
Corden mentioned that a few teams planning to join the Super League -- AC Milan, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid -- are some of the most successful clubs in the world. Corden also revealed that he is "heartbroken" by this announcement, and referred to its creation as an example of greed by club owners:
"And I'm heartbroken by it. Genuinely heartbroken. Because the owners of these teams have displayed the worst kind of greed I've ever seen in sport. Many football teams in Britain are over 100 years old and they were started by working-class people; dock workers, builders ... built by and for the communities that they play in. They are not franchises. These new billionaire owners have in the past 10-15 years have been buying up all the top teams and slowly but surely moved them away from the communities and foundations on which these teams were built."
Corden also lamented that, in the announcement of the Super League, the owners hid behind the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for its creation.
"The statement from the 12 owners and why they've announced such a jaw-dropping plan, during the season where there's still seven games to go, is disgusting," he said. "Three times they mention the pandemic as a reason to do this. A pandemic that has been catastrophic for clubs and communities across Britain."
Want to hear more about the Super League proposals? Listen below as Luis Miguel Echegaray and CBS Sports analysts break down the stunning developments on ¡Qué Golazo! A Daily CBS Soccer Podcast where we take you beyond the pitch and around the globe for commentary, previews, recaps and more.
The average soccer fan is the one that this news hits the hardest, according to Corden. He believes that the owners simply don't care about the ramifications of the Super League and they just want more money in their pockets:
"[Sunday] the realization hit every football fan hard. It's not just that they don't understand football or what it means to be a fan but it's simply the realization that they don't care. If anything they look at the historical fanbases with disdain. They want a closed shop where the rich get richer, they don't care if the teams that are below them struggle. They'll take that money regardless of performances and regardless of success on the pitch. It's disgraceful."
It's certainly not a done deal that the Super League is going to end up happening, but Corden, like many others, expects it to go through. And even if the Super League does end up being formed, Corden wants fans to remember the owners are to blame, regardless of what the product looks like on the pitch.
