The UEFA Champions league....Cash Cow.

   This weekend is the start of the footballing season across Europe. A few leagues such as the Premier league (England) and Ligue 1(French) have already had their inauguration games. A couple of games in then that vexatious international break never fails to arrive. All that being said not far away is the champions league is about to begin! To be more specific, the UEFA Champions league group stage is about to begin. Which is where the issue seems to be dormant for the time being. The group stage is probably the worst part of the whole tournament, coming a close second is the economic result of the Continental tournament heavily favoring the pockets of the big clubs. The new fixture for the 2018-2019 is a sign on how much negotiation power the bigger clubs have. (Gab Marcotti from espn does a great job at describing the new decisions made by UEFA   http://www.espnfc.com/blog/marcottis-musings/62/post/2930404/uefa-champions-league-structural-changes-as-explained-by-gab-marcotti). Aside from the money and redundant group stage with similar teams and soon to be common teams the champions league is a fantastic tournament. The best players, managers, and play is displayed for the world to see in champions league. But, the group stages are getting me fed up and just boring. ( I am aware of reasons behind the group stage commercial and sporting wise) The entertainment is just not cutting it for me. The excitement doesn't begin for me until January when the group stage is over and the knockout phase begins. It is a bit of a rant, but as a fan of the game I can and will complain about the games structure. Now I understand the game cannot go back to the Di Stefano days where only the first place team from the league is given entry to the tournament. Barcelona and Real Madrid, if one of those teams misses out it would be a huge commercial and financial lost for a lot of people. But wouldn't it be more exciting if Manchester City had a home and away knockout game vs AJAX or Porto vs Real Madrid in the same knockout format? there would have to be stages as well to compensate the bigger teams. Which is done in the knock out cups in most leagues anyways such as the Copa Del Rey. Where the weaker teams play each other in a knockout stage before they reach the round of 32 in which that is where the first division teams are seeded. I will continue to watch the champions league it is a fantastic and entertaining tournament to watch. I just feel that the hiccups that is the group stage went from okay it happens to now it is just annoying stage. I understand that the champions league is a cash cow, but no matter how rich that cow gets, it is still a cow and not very fun to watch for 7 months.