| by Barnaby Chesterman
PARIS (AFP) - When it comes to level playing fields, it seems the Americans are flattening their European counterparts.
An entry draft and salary capping ensure big, rich American clubs cannot dominate smaller, poorer ones.
Meanwhile, in Europe, a Russian billionaire can buy an English football club while a powerful body, the G14, slavishly protects the interests of the continent's richest teams.
But is the American model providing fairer competition?
Comparing the Super Bowl to the Champions League over the last 10 years provides interesting reading.
There have been more different winners - eight to seven - of the Champions League in that period and more different quarter-finalists (Conference semi-finallists in gridiron) - 31 to 27.
Real Madrid are the only team to have won the Champions League more than once in the last 10 years while two American football outfits - New England Patriots and Denver Broncos - have won back-to-back Super Bowls.
Despite this, European football bosses at UEFA are worried for the future.
"You can't apply US rules and regulations in Europe. In Europe you have to let the free market have free reign with buying and selling players and contracts," said UEFA spokesman William Gaillard.
"What we can do is introduce sporting rules so no club has an advantage and ensure there is a distribution of profits."
One measure UEFA has introduced is a quota system of home grown players to try to stop rich clubs buying up all the best talent across the globe.
Right now teams must name in their 25-man Champions league squads at least two players that came through their own system and two more that came through the system in the same country.
Neither Arsenal nor Chelsea could manage that and so were forced to name 24-man squads.
Life will get more difficult for those two as the quota will eventually rise to four and four.
"Already Barcelona have eight and Lyon seven so you can be successful with home grown players," said Gaillard.
Across the pond, however, they already have systems in place to ensure competitiveness across the board.
National Football League (NFL) spokesman Michael Signora is convinced their system works.
"The key thing with the policies that the NFL has in place is that they give fans hope," he said.
"Every fan of every team goes into the season thinking they have a chance of winning the Super Bowl - that drives fans."
"We think the measures and policies we have in place help create an opportunity for every team to be successful."
One significant difference between European football and American football is the number of teams in the league.
The same 32 teams play in the NFL from one season to the next, whereas the Champions League has around a 25 percent change in teams year on year.
Big guns such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and AC Milan never fail to qualify for the group stages.
However, last season's two Champions League finalists Barcelona and Arsenal both struggled to get out of their groups.
Barca needed a victory over Werder Bremen in their last match while Arsenal needed a draw in Porto to be sure they made it through.
In the NFL, champions Pittsburgh Steelers can at best hope for a wildcard while last season's finalists Seattle Seahawks record is not that of potential winners.
For now, it seems, the Champions League is maintaining a similar level of competitiveness but Gaillard is not sure it will last.
"We are worried. What may be true of the last 10 years may not be true of the next 10 years," he warned. | 
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