My question is who is the avg. fan that you are talking about, the Americans? I think if we asked non premier league fans in England they would fully object to this idea. I just don't see the FA Cup declining, and I am not over there to witness it. We are less than two years removed from maybe the greatest FA Cup final in history. It is still the most popular league cup in the world IMO, last year we saw Blackburn and Watford make it to the semi's. To me it looks like we are trying to Americanize something that is really not broken. i've seen numerous articles and stories on sky about the declining popularity and attendance at fa cup matches. i would think a lot of fans in england are just shocked the cup is declining in popularity. as we've said, the fa cup was once the prized jewel of england, no its an after thought for the prem teams and a ridiculous long shot for any lower division team to win. i really like the fa cup as is, but i wouldn't be surprised to see changes made if its continuing to lose its support from the big clubs the next few years.