The PL is the most watched league in the world and thats because its the most entertaining. People go to great lenghs in countrys to watch games in the PL.
It's the most watched in the world because it's the most well-marketed and became very business oriented early on. The other leagues never got on the ball (ptp) in selling their product overseas, whereas the EPL did it very well. The language helped too. So yeah, Asians and Americans watch it a lot, but that doesn't mean it's the most entertaining. I try to avoid it but unfortunately it's the only football that's on here, and I'm always disappointed. Arsenal is the only team in the league I find enjoyable to watch.
In your OPINION it's most entertaining in the world.
In terms of attendance, the Bundesliga has by far the highest in the world.
In terms of competitiveness/unpredicatability, of the big leagues, the Bundesliga is by far the best. There is more parity in that league than any European league, and it's totally unpredictable. Small teams out of nowhere challenge for the title (Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg, this year Dortmund, which isn't that big of a team). There are no 'big teams' that win every year. Bayern Munich is obviously the traditional one, but they struggle a lot, and no other team can constantly finish well. The lower half of the league is great and there are no easy games, unlike the other big leagues.
In terms of the style of play, it's a matter of taste. If you want offensive football and goals, you'd have to look at the Bundesliga. It has the most offensive style of play and the highest amount of goals per game by far (the Eredivisie is in second, with the third being pretty far off). A lot of people like the Premiership for its pace, but a lot of people, mainly in Latin America, think it's really ugly soccer, and I would agree. My favorites are the Spanish and Argentine leagues, and watching what I consider to be attractive football is what's most important, I don't care if the best athletes and teams are in the Prem or not. But it's a matter of taste.
If you've followed this forum with any detail, you know that we've spoken at length the perils the english league faces, and the fact the the financial fair play rules are badly needed. But the OP takes two transfers and then decides its the downfall of the english league. That is a flawed argument. So please, dont us tell we blindly support our league, we know all too well what's right and and more importantly, whats wrong with it
I haven't followed it with any detail, I just started looking at the football forum a week or two ago so I don't know the opinions of the FM base users. But I feel like they're more educated than a lot of fans out there.
Anyway, why then did the OP get the response that it did? He mentions the fact that there is by far more debt in the Prem than anywhere else, and everyone said it was a bad thread and that they weren't interested. I've also noticed that everyone thinks Wenger is overly frugal and he is criticized constantly for not buying more players. He's trying to balance the books, but rather than respecting him most people just can't stand him and think he's pretentious about his financial decisions. I think that's a rather unhealthy climate. The OP obviously didn't say English football was over because of the Carroll event as you suggested it did, that's a very poor reading of it. It just mentioned the fact that this transfer window was simply an indication of how messed up football is right now. I agree with him and I'm shocked that few do.
The FFP rules don't do enough, and I'm sure there will be loopholes. They only affect the teams that want to play in European competitions, if I understand correctly, and many of the lower teams have a lot of problems as well. The Premiership has financialized like crazy and has been way too lose in the spending it allows. The Bundesliga is much more financially sustainable because of the strict limits it has on debt. In the Bundesliga, each team gets 9 million pounds per season as TV money. This helps ensure equal competition. I don't know how the Prem's system works, but I doubt that the TV money is distributed evenly (obviously though La Liga is much worse in that sense, I think Serie A is pretty good about this but I'm not sure). This enabled the Premiership to overtake the Bundesliga in the 00's with foreign money and big foreign signings (the top tea ms, at least), but the Bundesliga looks much, much better off in the long-run.
The Premiership, to me, is a perfect microcosm of some of the causes behind the financial crisis (not a coincidence, since Britain's economy heavily depends on finance). Far too much debt and spending without regards to the future or the sustainability of the institutions. Too much attention to short-term gain without considering the consequences. Not enough regulation to slow the capital sloshing through the system at high speeds that couldn't last forever. Inflated prices not based on real economic activity but on the notion that the market and prices would continue to rise. This includes spending a British player transfer record on a guy who has only had half a season in the Prem, and a Premiership record purchase for a player who is injury-prone, not young, and whose game completely depends on pace, which he may have lost already. So yeah, I think it's an indicator of how things are going now. I don't know what the future holds for the Prem, but I don't think it's good. I'd much rather be in Germany's shoes right now.