The Best Fake Competition Idea Ever

OK, I don't know if it really would be the best fake competition idea ever but I certainly needed something to draw the eyeballs in and that's what I came up with.  The genesis of my proposal came from - what else - an IM session between Jeremy and I yesterday where we were discussing, among other things, the insane amount of talent on the Real Madrid bench in the wake of the Ozil signing from Werder Bremen. That got us thinking about the combined talent on the Real Madrid and Man Citeh benches and here's where my twisted mind went from there:

Why doesn't some enterprising entrepreneur create a shadow one month competition (not unlike the Indian Premier League in Cricket) between the four best second teams in the world?  Real Madrid and Manchester City would clearly be the first two teams on the list with Barcalona a likely third.  I'm not sure who the fourth would be this season with Chelsea and Inter Milan having thinned their ranks somewhat over the Summer but I'm sure we can come up with something (maybe Arsenal's reserves). 

Why do this? For a few reasons:

• By locating the tournament strategically, it would be great marketing for football in markets they don't traditionally reach during the regular season.  I'd think India, Japan/Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and US/Canada would be great places to rotate.  Alternatively, they could pick a resort destination and create a high end event for fans to enjoy as part-spectator event, part-vacation (I'm thinking Las Vegas would be the obvious spot for this).
• By bringing together exceptional talent and (presumably) having the financial power to create a meaningful financial incentive for the club that wins (say $10 Million), the matches would mean something.
• Finally, because the matches would mean something this would give us an opportunity to watch some of the best talents in the world in the competitive situations that they'll be missing out on over the next couple of years as they rot on the benches of their current "super clubs."  Here are some excerpts from those rosters and the players we're likely NOT to see on a regular basis...
• Real Madrid - Ozil, de Maria, van der Vaart, Benezma, L. Diarra, M. Diarra, Drenthe, Carvalho, Gago, etc.;
• Man City - K2, SWP, Adam Johnson, Robinho, Given, Bridge, Lescott, Vieira, Weiss, Micheal Johnson, RSC (for now), Jo, Richards, etc.
• Barcelona - Krkic, Ibrahimovic, Hleb, Keita, Hleb, Abidal, Pedro, and a bunch of kids who are likely to improve;

We could hold all of the matches on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays so as not to compete with league matches across Europe.

The final twist in this twisted idea is that at the end of the tournament, the management team from the winning side must come out to the center of the field to be ritually flogged by contest winners.  Perhaps this would dissuade them from accumulating so much superfluous talent.  At the very least, it would make the supporters of teams like Bremen and Lyon and Everton who used to be able to hold on to one or two exceptional players when they unearthed them feel better that at least their tormentors were suffering some consequences for robbing the footballing worlds of so much talent on a weekly basis.

Just a thought, you may now return to your regularly scheduled day.  Of course you may also contribute your own thoughts on alternative ways to take advantage of all of the talent sitting on the benches of rich teams or to punish those in charge of assembling these too-large squads in creative ways.