Adam Crafton

My name's Adam Crafton, and I'm a reporter at The Athletic, primarily covering soccer, the business of soccer, the politics of soccer, the money of soccer, and all the stories that come with that.

Yeah.

Thank you. You wanted someone at the top of the game and you got me instead.

Thank you. You wanted someone at the top of the game and you got me instead.

Thank you. You wanted someone at the top of the game and you got me instead.

Yeah, well, I suppose the major difference is the rest of the world kind of has this idea of a pyramid, right? This idea of teams that have always existed, that have been around for decades, centuries, and this idea that there is a top division where you may have maybe 12, 16, 18, 20 teams, but you don't have a fixed place in that division.

Yeah, well, I suppose the major difference is the rest of the world kind of has this idea of a pyramid, right? This idea of teams that have always existed, that have been around for decades, centuries, and this idea that there is a top division where you may have maybe 12, 16, 18, 20 teams, but you don't have a fixed place in that division.

Yeah, well, I suppose the major difference is the rest of the world kind of has this idea of a pyramid, right? This idea of teams that have always existed, that have been around for decades, centuries, and this idea that there is a top division where you may have maybe 12, 16, 18, 20 teams, but you don't have a fixed place in that division.

Certainly, if we just take the example of England, you have 20 clubs in the top division, then there's 24 in the second tier, 24 in the third tier, 24 in the fourth tier. That's just the professional game. And The idea is it's fluid. So three teams will go down from the Premier League, three teams will come up from the Championship.

Certainly, if we just take the example of England, you have 20 clubs in the top division, then there's 24 in the second tier, 24 in the third tier, 24 in the fourth tier. That's just the professional game. And The idea is it's fluid. So three teams will go down from the Premier League, three teams will come up from the Championship.

Certainly, if we just take the example of England, you have 20 clubs in the top division, then there's 24 in the second tier, 24 in the third tier, 24 in the fourth tier. That's just the professional game. And The idea is it's fluid. So three teams will go down from the Premier League, three teams will come up from the Championship.

And I suppose the advantage of it is this concept of being able to dream, of being able to take a place in the top flight, but also this idea of sporting jeopardy so that bad performances have consequences.

And I suppose the advantage of it is this concept of being able to dream, of being able to take a place in the top flight, but also this idea of sporting jeopardy so that bad performances have consequences.

And I suppose the advantage of it is this concept of being able to dream, of being able to take a place in the top flight, but also this idea of sporting jeopardy so that bad performances have consequences.

And good performances are rewarded, but also from a spectator sport perspective, it doesn't just mean you're looking at the top of the table as to who's going to win the championship or who's going to win the playoffs, or who's going to qualify for European competition. But you also have this other layer of television jeopardy, which is who's going to stay in the division.

And good performances are rewarded, but also from a spectator sport perspective, it doesn't just mean you're looking at the top of the table as to who's going to win the championship or who's going to win the playoffs, or who's going to qualify for European competition. But you also have this other layer of television jeopardy, which is who's going to stay in the division.

And good performances are rewarded, but also from a spectator sport perspective, it doesn't just mean you're looking at the top of the table as to who's going to win the championship or who's going to win the playoffs, or who's going to qualify for European competition. But you also have this other layer of television jeopardy, which is who's going to stay in the division.

And we'll go probably even deeper into this, but with the Premier League, that's become even greater jeopardy because of the cost of relegation and the jeopardy of the trapdoor, which there is a kind of...

And we'll go probably even deeper into this, but with the Premier League, that's become even greater jeopardy because of the cost of relegation and the jeopardy of the trapdoor, which there is a kind of...

And we'll go probably even deeper into this, but with the Premier League, that's become even greater jeopardy because of the cost of relegation and the jeopardy of the trapdoor, which there is a kind of...