I think Alexi Lalas’ views are typical ‘self-serving’ capitalist views. These minds don’t think in a holistic way and there is no room for “game’s well-being” or best interests of different stakeholders of the ecosystem. Their myopic thinking is restricted to money, greed and more money at the cost of anything and anybody.
The objection to “ESL” is not because of their capitalist (profit) motives but the way it is formed:
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The exclusivity provided to 15 founding clubs out of 20 clubs.
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This closed group league is built against the principles of “open competition” which is important to promote the game of football at grassroots level. The formation of such exclusive league will have a huge economic impact on the sustainability of smaller clubs in other leagues.
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These clubs are not abiding by the rules of existing leagues that they are part of. For example, Premier League “Rule L9,” forbids teams from playing in non-sanctioned events without permission. These clubs did not even bother to check with their existing associations.
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ESL seems to me more a display of an “entertainment show” than a football competition.
These cash rich clubs can afford to buy best of the best players at exorbitant values and thereby attract fans. So, if this league does materialize, it will only be a self-managed fake show with no “dark horse” stories, no “never give up” stories and no “YNWA” stories for the next generation of budding footballers at grassroots level.