Is La Liga going to America?
Top-flight Spanish soccer clubs will play official games in the United States,
LaLiga will celebrate for the first time in history official matches outside of Spain, in the United States. It is one of the plans of the 15-year agreement signed between LaLiga and Relevent, a multinational media, sports and entertainment company, to promote football in the United States and Canada. "The goal of this extraordinary 'joint venture' is for the culture of football to grow in the United States. It will be a big step in its growing popularity, "said Stephen Ross, a US businessman and principal owner, among other firms, of Relevent, the Miami Dolphins of the NFL and the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The celebration of the game or matches of Spanish LaLiga will be completed as soon as possible. The idea is that there is already a match this season and, predictably, with Barça or Real Madrid as one of the contenders. It will be the first time that a European league has held matches outside the continent.
LaLiga will celebrate for the first time in history official matches outside of Spain, in the United States. It is one of the plans of the 15-year agreement signed between LaLiga and Relevent, a multinational media, sports and entertainment company, to promote football in the United States and Canada. "The goal of this extraordinary 'joint venture' is for the culture of football to grow in the United States. It will be a big step in its growing popularity, "said Stephen Ross, a US businessman and principal owner, among other firms, of Relevent, the Miami Dolphins of the NFL and the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The celebration of the game or matches of Spanish LaLiga will be completed as soon as possible. The idea is that there is already a match this season and, predictably, with Barça or Real Madrid as one of the contenders. It will be the first time that a European league has held matches outside the continent.
LaLiga and Relevent, which will form a new organization called LaLiga North America, adopt an idea of promotion and expansion similar to that carried out by major professional sports in the United States such as the NBA, the American Football (NFL), the Baseball League (MLB) or the Ice Hockey League (NHL). For some years, these leagues have held official matches outside of North America.
The Real Madrid or Barcelona brands have expanded during the last years in the United States. Tebas now wants the LaLiga brand to expand in the same way. "Relevent has filled stadiums throughout the United States with the ICC. It is the firm that can help us grow in the United States, not only in a very competitive market in football, but in the sports industry. The brands Barça and Madrid are very well introduced. It is also necessary to develop the LaLiga brand and thus benefit the brand from the rest of the Spanish clubs.
According to a 2016 study, of the 47 million fans that the United States has, 33 million are followers of LaLiga. And 30% of Americans interested in world football are Hispanic. "Unite with Relevent to create LaLiga North America is a great milestone in our international expansion strategy," says Óscar Mayo, director of international development at LaLiga.
According to a 2016 study, of the 47 million fans that the United States has, 33 million are followers of LaLiga. And 30% of Americans interested in world football are Hispanic. "Unite with Relevent to create LaLiga North America is a great milestone in our international expansion strategy," says Óscar Mayo, director of international development at LaLiga.
What about the non-economic side?
The news that La Liga will play regular-season matches in the United States came as a surprise to most fans and clubs. Players from all 20 La Liga clubs voiced their opposition to the idea at a meeting earlier this week. Further player meetings are scheduled for later in the year but La Liga may still go ahead with their plans, despite threats of a strike.
Local supporters think it might lead to a situation where part of top-level football in Spain is sold to the highest bidder rather than what's really best for the fans and players alike.
We, as a football fans have a certain pessimism this cannot be stopped once it begins. We think that these types of matches will increase the possibilities of injuries and tiredness on players. Also, fans will lose the possibility of enjoying some games. On a positive note, bringing a few La Liga matches to a country like the United States, where football is growing slowly but steadily, could make it more popular.
In conclusion, yes, we may miss that one game. But the fans in America never get to see a game, and now they can. All this will increase the invest in La Liga and will make it more competitive.
Our question is that if we have seen the NFL or NBA move games outside of America, 'Why can't we do that the other way around?'" Why that situation is not accepted by clubs and fans? 
I completely understand the La Liga football fans. It should be unacceptable that SPANISH local matches are played outside there own place. To start with it's unfair for the team who doesn't play at home and plays in the season two times against the same side away.
ResponEliminaI understand that La Liga wants to expand the market but there is better ways to do this, there rivals, the Premier League, haven't done such a thing and they are seen more worldwide due to their good marketing campaign. Why can't La Liga do that?
And the question shouldn't be why the NFL or NBA have played games outside of America and still the clubs and fans of La Liga don't accept this.
But, it should be, HOW did the clubs and fans of the NFL or/and NBA accepted this situation to happen?
Yeah Victor! We think that la La liga hadn’t sold well the product. They are saying that Americans had adapted on playing in Europe, but are they really into doing this?
EliminaI fully understand the interest in playing matches in the United States from an economical perspective, but from almost every other perspective this does not seem like a great idea. As mentioned this would not be great for the players. This much travel is very difficult on them especially if it is for short periods of time. Similar to what NFL players experience when they play in London. Many players and coaches often speak out against doing this. There is so little interest in playing in the London NFL game that it is essentially a punishment. There is a reason the Jaguars are always there.
ResponEliminaYeah! We agree with you! For players it is like a punishmennt!
EliminaI think is a good idea in term of business to play in America but I’m not sure if it’s going to be good for the Sport, Media Cultural Complex. I think it's a good idea that some sort of teams plays matches in America but not all of them. For example, if Barcelona or Real Madrid that has such a tight calendar it is a suicide make them play a match in there. The players, as you said, will start to get injured and the performance wouldn’t be the same.
ResponEliminaAlso, for the fans, I perfectly understand that it’s horrible not being able to see their team they support in their stadium. They are paying a fee and the result is not been able to see their team playing in their stadium.
I think that we have to find the equilibrium and that means that it’s going to be hard to play matches of La Liga outside Spain.
In a future we think that an equilibrium will be found. But, nowadays, it is difficult as clubs are being obligated...
EliminaFrom an economic standpoint, having matches in the United States makes a lot of sense. There is a large, fairly untapped audience that resides in the US. The current league in the US, Major league Soccer, hardly gets any media coverage and does not make bring in many fans/revenue. This is partly because soccer is not a huge sport in the US and also because the MLS does not have many exciting players to watch with the exception of a few. If La Liga matches were played in the United States, I feel that the more people would be engaged in the sport and that it would bring a fair amount of revenue with it.
ResponEliminaHowever, from the perspective of a Spanish person, I could see this movement of matches into the US as disappointing and frustrating. Spain has a long tradition of soccer and the fans are extremely dedicated to the various teams in the country and it is the primary sport here. One thing that is unclear to me is what would happen to the season ticket holders? Would having season tickets mean that you would miss some of the matches that are played in the US? If that is the case then that is unfair.
Overall I feel that La Liga could experience economic growth in the untapped resource of the US but it would be at the expense of the Spanish fans and culture.
Yeah! La liga will growth both in fans and in an economic side. If there is more money, clubs will increase their renevues and the competition will be more interesting. But, Laliga as an instituion should do things in a different way.
EliminaIn August the League decided to make the Americas. The first expected match Girona-Barça. But he was frustrated by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino who does not want matches outside the national territory of each league.
ResponEliminaAs you know, not all teams were for the job. R.Madrid did not want to play out, the Barça players wanted to be previously commented to decide .... in a short time, we will see the league out ... it is an economic issue for the clubs that will gain in popularity and consequently in their income statement ... time to time.
Yeah! Maybe in a near future we will face that situation. But, firstly, things had to change a lot and La liga might adapt to the clubs.
EliminaAs a business point of view, I think it is a very good idea to expand the La Liga matches in US, as it would generate a lot of money and It would promote European football in the US as people prefer watching other sports other than European football. But as as a general perspective, I do not think it is fair to the fans or the clubs to play abroad on foreign soil, This is the La Liga, and they are Spanish clubs and they should play their matches in Spain. Having said this as economic point of view it is still a very good idea to expand to the US as it would promote football to the US and help in the economic growth of the La Liga.
ResponEliminaYeah! It is always the same! In an economic side it will be really helpful, but, in the other hand, it will be a disaster for clubs and fans.
EliminaJordi: I understand the two postures. La Liga wants to earn more money by going to America to promote the league. The fans don't want to lose one game of his team and, especially one where they play against FC Barcelona or Real Madrid where the clubs use to fill the stadium.
ResponEliminaIn terms of an econmic view, the best option is what La Liga proposes, but can it make all the fans unhappy because of that?
We will see what happens in the end.
La liga might adapt to the clubs. What is doing now is really unfair and clubs are really unhappy with that situation.
Eliminathis year for the first time was decided to make Spanish league matches in the United States surely for reasons of spectators or sponsorship and as business reasons would be perfect but the first game was canceled because it was said that the game had to be held in one of the fields of the teams that celebrate the match. thing that for local fans would be the best decision since they have the right to see their team play where they have to play.
ResponEliminaPlaying La Liga games in United States is a good idea as a business, you can earn a lot of money, you can expand your brand, you can have new fans... but i don't think it's a good idea for the players, traveling 12 hours in a plane the weekends will affect on their performance because they would be more tired. Every years there are more games in a season and if they also have to travel 12 hours their performance would decrease.
ResponEliminaYeah! We agree with you Fede! As playing really far from home they will be tired and have the famous jet-lag. Their performance will decrease in the USA match and in the next matches they will play.
Elimina