An
interesting article on the Guardian website regarding the Premier League.
Reading this through a prism of the AP, I can see a lot of parallels already: The separation of a leading pack, an interchangeable group in the middle, the story of a plucky team that went on to win the title but have slipped back down into the "also-rans", the disenchantment of fans of some clubs, etc.
At the moment, at least we have a salary cap that goes some way to preventing a all-out cash war that some would happily take part in (Bruce Craig , I'm looking squarely at you). Of course, the exempted player allows for some clubs to splash cash on two star players, but the clubs are on a somewhat leveller financial pitch than football is (at least now).