Back in December as English football still had its gaze turned towards the Qatar World Cup, something significant happened back here in the Premier League.
American Bill Foley completed his takeover of Bournemouth, which meant almost half the clubs in our top division were now under the influence or direct control of owners or investors from the United States.
America's grip on English football has been tightening.
The Glazer family have controlled Manchester United for 18 years. Stan Kroenke has been majority shareholder at Arsenal since 2011. Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool a year earlier. Americans also own Chelsea now, too, and Fulham and a good chunk of Leeds United and Crystal Palace and on it goes.
So, yes, America is here and America is staying, propping up our top division through ownership and a TV deal with NBC that currently runs at about £2billion over six years.
There is a sense of inevitability that Premier League football will one day be played in the US
The Glazer family, who own Manchester United, are one of a number of American owners
Chelsea is co-owned by Todd Boehly (left) while Stan Kroenke (right) is majority shareholder at Arsenal, two of the Premier League's biggest clubs and they will want returns on investment
Why, then, the surprise that UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has been talking about one day holding a Champions League final in America?
It sounds wrong. The final of European's blue riband football tournament taking place on another continent. But it also feels obvious and perhaps even grimly inevitable when we consider that America owns an increasing number of clubs across England, Italy and France, including current Champions League semi-finalists AC Milan.
Arsenal - Stan Kroenke
Aston Villa - Wes Edens
Bournemouth - Bill Foley
Chelsea - Todd Boehly
Crystal Palace - Josh Harris / David Blitzer / John Textor
Fulham - Shahid Khan
Leeds - Denise DeBartolo York and family
Liverpool - John W Henry / Tom Werner
Manchester United - Glazer family
As America continues to invest in football it is logical that eventually it will expect something in return other than pictures on a TV screen.
America has been paying Europe's biggest clubs big money for years to play pre- season matches on their turf. Why would they not expect at some point to host a little of the real thing too?
None of this particularly appeals to me. The Champions League final, in its modern and older guises, is a historic sporting event. It belongs firmly in Europe just like the Super Bowl belongs firmly in America.
But that does not mean we should expect our football calendar to remain untouched, especially not in England. To do so would betray a misguided belief that the Premier League remains an English football competition. It does not.
The Premier League ceased to be an English league years ago. It is now an elite international football league that just happens to take place in England. There is a difference.
Its owners are largely foreign, as are its players and managers. So too are its TV viewers, in that the amount of money now paid by overseas broadcasters to show the Premier League outstrips the figures paid by TV companies in England.
The only thing uniquely English about our game are the people who sit in the stands and we know they are no longer deemed as important as they once were. Gate receipts remain valuable but not like they used to be. TV and sponsorship money dwarf everything in the modern game.
So where does this leave us? A little vulnerable, to be honest. Vulnerable to the whims of owners keen on expansion and experimentation.
Bill Foley (right) recently sealed his takeover of Bournemouth, adding another US top flight owner. Hollywood actor Michael B Jordan (left) is among the investors in the south coast team
Chelsea's joint-owner Todd Boehly was shot down in flames when he suggested the introduction of an all-star game last year. Since then, he has become rather more occupied with matters on his own doorstep than to try again.
But Boehly and his like have not spent money here just to sit on the sidelines and watch.
We should not assume they do not care about the history and traditions of our sport. American owners are not automatically bad owners.
It's also worth noting that offers of English investment in football have been thin on the ground while United, Chelsea and Liverpool have been on the market recently.
Equally, in America, sport does not historically thrive by standing still. So we must expect moves to change some of what we hold dear.
On some issues, we must dig in our heels. Promotion and relegation remain fundamental and the fight must continue on such matters as the future of the League Cup and Saturday 3pm kick-off times. Change will come, though, and I am, in truth, not as offended by some of it as I once thought I was.
Remember the 39th game? Plans by clubs to take an extra round of Premier League fixtures overseas - probably to America - were ditched in 2010. But I fully expect that idea to come round at some point again and would imagine that it is where this conversation will eventually reach its natural and most palatable conclusion.
The idea of a 39th seasonal game being held in America feels more palatable than ever before
And would it really be so bad? If it came as a way of keeping our traditions and calendar otherwise intact then it does not sound like the worst idea in the world at all.
It still takes 14 votes to pass a motion at the Premier League. So we are not quite at America's beck and call just yet. But it's not difficult to see which way the wind is blowing.
Parts of the Premier League will always be fundamentally English. The style of play. The stadiums. The weather. But we started to give other bits of it away, piece by piece, as it grew steadily into something different over the last 25 years.
English and perhaps European football will be played in America at some point in the future, for sure. It's just a case of when and what indeed it looks like when it does happen.
Levy needs to be grown up, sell Kane, then spend well
Daniel Levy has problems piling up but one issue should not vex the Tottenham chairman as much as it does.
Harry Kane has a year or so left on his contract. Unless he signs a new deal, he can walk into the arms of a club such as Manchester United, Chelsea or even Manchester City for nothing in the summer of 2024.
United want the England captain now, though. Kane is the club's No 1 priority this summer. So Levy should put his obsession about not being seen as Manchester's patsy to one side and sit down at the negotiating table.
Tottenham and Daniel Levy must grow up and sell Harry Kane, who has a year left on his deal
If he lets it be known that a deal is there to be done, that is likely to draw other clubs into the conversation too. United, Chelsea and others are desperate for a centre forward and that plays to Tottenham's advantage.
If Levy gets this right he could soon have a bidding war on his hands, so it is time for him to be grown up. Sell Kane for big money. Sell him early and then spend the money well.
Aston Villa have managed to move on from Jack Grealish and £100million from Manchester City helped them do that.
There is life for Spurs after Kane and Levy needs to see that before it is too late.
Tomori for England? Don't forget he plays in a sub-standard league
It is pleasing to see Fikayo Tomori doing well for AC Milan.
The defender had the courage to leave Chelsea when he could not get in the team and it has paid off.
But it is a flawed argument that Tomori should be in Gareth Southgate's England squad just because his team have reached the Champions League semi-final.
Firstly, AC Milan are fourth in Serie A, more than 20 points behind leaders Napoli. So that is their level, really.
Fikayo Tomori is thriving at AC Milan - but that doesn't mean he must be picked for England
Secondly, David May won a Champions League with Manchester United in 1999. Good player, but perhaps not elite. Six years later, Djimi Traore won one for Liverpool and he was not even a good player.
So sometimes, even medals can lie but the trained eye of a football coach more often does not, especially when the coach in question happens to have been a centre half.
Tomori is doing well but is doing so in a sub-standard European league, at least by the standards of our own.
If he is good enough he will play for England again, and if his trajectory continues, the chances are that time will come round soon enough.
