By Paul Nicholson
August 16 – LaLiga are planning to play a regular season league game in the US under a joint venture signed with Relevent, the sports and entertainment group that runs the International Champions Cup pre-season tournament.
The regular season game would be the first to be played outside Europe and will come under the organisation of LaLiga North America, a new 15-year joint venture 50/50 owned by LaLiga and Relevent.
LaLiga said it cannot confirm the date, teams or location of the first match to be taken to the US, thought Relevent executive chairman Charlie Stillitano said that both parties wanted to play the fixture this season.
Under the joint venture, LaLiga North America will be the exclusive representative of LaLiga in the US and Canada for all business and development activities. As well as the regular season league fixtures played in the US, the agreement will cover youth academies, development of youth soccer coaches (LaLiga has a deal with youth organisation US Soccer), marketing agreements, consumer activations, and exhibition matches.
LaLiga President Javier Tebas said: “We’re devoted to growing the passion for soccer around the world. This ground-breaking agreement is certain to give a major impulse to the popularity of the beautiful game in the U.S. and Canada. Relevent has filled stadiums across the U.S. with the International Champions Cup, we’re thrilled to partner with them on a joint mission to grow soccer in North America.”
Tebas’ real mission has been to grow the LaLiga brand worldwide, something he has embarked on aggressively and successfully in a game of catch-up with the English Premier League for global commercial supremacy. Tebas’ range of initiatives have been greater and more varied than the Premier League which has focussed its expansion around high value television rights sales and its clubs adding regional sponsorships.
Stephen Ross, chairman and owner of Relevent, was effusive in his enthusiasm for the deal. “This extraordinary joint venture is the next giant leap in growing soccer’s popularity in North America,” he said. “This unique relationship will create new opportunities for millions of North American soccer fans to experience the most passionate, exciting, and highest level of soccer in the world.”
Hyperbole aside, the success of Relevent’s ICC tournament is that it has made itself into a sustainable pre-season format that has secured Europe’s biggest and most money-hungry clubs – not a simple task. The ICC this season held its first women’s edition of the club tournament.
The idea of playing regular season games overseas is not a new one, even though LaLiga are the first football league to commit to doing so. A proposal in 2010 (it was first mooted in 2008) for a 39th game for the Premier League clubs to be played in neutral venues around the world was rapidly shelved following criticism from fans, media and FIFA.
Instead the Premier League has watched as the NFL has established a position in the UK, filling Wembley for regular season games and with an agreement to play at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium. There is even some talk of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, owned by Shahid Khan, who also owns Fulham, relocating to England and Wembley. Talk fuelled by Khan’s proposed Wembley Stadium buyout.
Reaction in Spain to the proposal of playing a season fixture in the US has not been universally positive with the players union immediately expressing concern about player welfare and saying in a statement: “Footballers are not currency that can be used in business to only benefit third parties.”
It is unlikely their concerns will factor into the equation for either LaLiga or Relevent who come from the exact opposite position with this proposal. But it is really a question of which teams would play in the US. The ICC has already stage in 2017 a very successful version of el clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Miami. A week of themed events and activity led to a sell-out game at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, owned by Ross.
While a regular season repeat of that fixture in the US seems unlikely, Stillitano has said the game would have to include at least one of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla or Valencia, with a preference for the first three.
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