Newcastle United’s potential major influence in proposed Premier League ‘All-Star’ game

Some have lauded it as a ‘glorified Soccer Aid’, whilst others have argued its merits for bringing in extra money to the game.

Of all the revolutionary ideas that have been dreamed up like a ‘39th game played abroad’ or even a Bundesliga-style ‘relegation playoff’, few have captured the interest as much as Boehly’s latest suggestion.

Speaking at the SALT Conference, Boehly said: “Ultimately, I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports.

“People are talking about more money for the pyramid. In the MLB (Major League Baseball) All-Star game this year, we made $200million 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.”

Jurgen Klopp even weighed in on the discussion: “Great, when he finds a date for that, he can call me," said Klopp.

“He forgets that in the big sports in America, these sports have four-month breaks, so they’re quite happy they can do a little bit of sport in these breaks. It’s completely different in football. I’m surprised by the question, so please don’t judge my answers too much, but maybe he can explain it to me at one point.

“I’m not sure people want to see that, imagine that, (Manchester) United players, Liverpool players, Everton players all on one team that’s not the national team, just a north team. North West and North East together.

“North against south means North East, Newcastle. Interesting game. All the London guys together. Arsenal, Tottenham. Great. Did he really say it? Interesting.”

Whilst there is nothing to suggest that plans for an ‘All-Star’ game will even be considered never mind implemented, it does open an interesting hypothetical situation.

For at least a decade, and likely more, something of this nature wouldn’t have affected Newcastle, they would simply have acted as innocent bystanders as all the ‘big boys’ got involved with the game.

But their new ownership model and recent transfer acquisitions mean Newcastle could have a major role to play in any ‘All-Star’ match should one come to fruition.

It’s likely that any game would be of interest to Saudi Arabia both for broadcast on TV and even potentially staging a game.

The Italian Supercoppa has been staged in the country and as we have seen with moves to stage huge boxing fights and WWE events, it is clear that Saudi Arabia would likely consider hosting any major sporting events.

Returning to on-field matters though, Newcastle’s strengthened squad, one they will add to in coming seasons, means that the Magpies may even have a few representatives in the match as well.

Although very much hypothetical at this stage, there’s big arguments to be made that Nick Pope, Bruno Guimaraes and Allan Saint-Maximin could all be included - not bad for a side that narrowly escaped relegation last term.

Boehly’s suggestion will likely not gain any traction, but if it does, then there could be a major sprinkling of Newcastle United within it.