It’s an improbable counterfactual… PL became successful because it had entertaining games & narrative, good competition, strong domestic demand that could be monetized and all the benefits of being English in an English speaking world.

That’s cheaper than premier league now in a way but PL was on NBC & NBCSN when it was included in most cable packages before peacock came along and ESPN+ was an add on not many brought before it started getting bundled with Disney/Hulu