LaLiga pulls out of Miami game citing ‘uncertainty’ in Spain

October 21 – Spain’s LaLiga officially cancels the planned Villareal-Barcelona regular season match in Miami on December 20 after “talks” with its US promoter, Relevent Sports, and citing “the uncertainty that has emerged in Spain over the last few weeks”.

The refusal to play the match in Miami came under widespread criticism from football stakeholders globally and in recent days from Spain’s players’ union and individual players who said the match would damage the competitive integrity of the league and benefit Barcelona as Villarreal is a difficult away game for any team in the league.

In an extraordinary attack on the governing bodies of countries outside Spain, LaLiga said: “The project fully complies with all federative regulations and does not affect the integrity of the competition, as confirmed by the competent institutions responsible for ensuring compliance, which oppose it for other reasons.”

The statement is a misleading half-truth, as the game was never fully approved. Despite the Spanish FA (RFEF) dutifully granting its sanction and UEFA being ‘reluctant’ to do the same, neither the US Soccer Federation (USSF) nor Concacaf, the two most important governing bodies covering soccer in the US, where LaLiga and Relevent require local permission to play, have granted permission.

LaLiga President Javier Tebas told world media at a conference 10 days ago that getting sanctions was purely an administrative process.

His comments were immediately met with a short statement from Concacaf stating that the application had to go through a legal process and that it was undergoing a review involving consultation with all stakeholders, as well as parties in other regions. That process will be completed before any decision is taken, Concacaf said.

Although the USSF remained silent regarding sanctions, Concacaf did not reject or approve the request but remained focused on the football ecosystem both in its own region and in its member countries, where the focus was on the growth of the domestic league, its clubs and regional club competitions. Thought was also given to future impacts and consequences for stakeholders outside the Concacaf region.

UEFA’s decision to sanction the match was made on the basis that FIFA’s regulations lacked legal clarity and therefore felt pressured to sanction a game they did not want. FIFA is currently undergoing a legal review of its laws regarding this matter.

In its statement, LaLiga also pointed the finger at the Premier League and UEFA as well as its Champions League (for which UEFA currently has Relevent as its new sales partner), saying that they “continue to expand their reach and ability to generate revenue, initiatives such as these are vital to ensure the sustainability and growth of Spanish football.”

The difference is that neither the Premier League nor UEFA are trying to play matches in the US’s backyard for commercial gain. LaLiga basically admitted that it was unable to compete commercially with its own product in the broadcast media market.

“Holding official matches outside our borders would be a decisive step in the growth of the global competition, strengthening the international presence of clubs, the positioning of players and the visibility of Spanish football in strategic markets such as the United States…” LaLiga said.

“Rejecting such opportunities would hinder the generation of new revenues, limit clubs’ capacity to invest and compete, and reduce the international projection of the entire Spanish football ecosystem.”

LaLiga has pre-sold tickets for December matches. No figures have been released as to how many tickets were sold, but the assumption is that it will not be enough to continue to battle dissatisfaction with North American and global soccer opinion.

Denying such opportunities would hinder the generation of new revenue, limit clubs’ capacity to invest and compete, and reduce the international projection of the entire Spanish football ecosystem.

In a separate statement, Relevent said it had informed La Liga of the need to “postpone” the match, arguing that the uncertainty in Spain had led to “insufficient time to properly execute an event of this magnitude”.

For Relevent, this may be a favorable end to what seemed like an uncomfortable issue, and a growing potential conflict of interest, given their new Champions League contract with UEFA

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