La Liga wants Real Madrid and Barcelona to play outside of Spain
By Alex McVey
When Real Madrid and Barcelona met in Miami for El Clásico, many thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see La Liga’s giants face off outside of Spain. But if La Liga’s administration has anything to say about it, Real Madrid and Barcelona may play some competitive La Liga matches outside of Spain in the coming years.
Marca reports that La Liga’s President Javier Tebas wants to begin hosting regular season La Liga fixtures outside of Spain. In an attempt to grow the global brand of Spanish football, Tebas wants La Liga to move beyond simply hosting friendlies abroad:
"La Liga is global entertainment and we want to grow the international appeal of La Liga… As part of that effort we are discussing the option of playing some of the league matches outside of Spain. These discussions are still in early stages, but as La Liga, we support the idea."
As the Financial Times reports, similar plan was developed for the English Premier League in 2008, but it ultimately never came to fruition. The U.S. based National Football League already does something similar in the UK, hosting games in London.
The move could come as early as the 2018-2019 season, but an arrangement has not yet been finalized.
This strategy could help La Liga to catch up to the English Premier League and the Bundesliga in terms of revenue generation. La Liga lags behind their British and German counterparts as the third most lucrative league in the world.
The “Miami El Clásico”, which I once bashed as not being a real El Clásico, nevertheless managed to draw a significant audience both in the stadium and on TV. The same group who had a hand in bringing El Clásico to the U.S. this summer could help bring competitive La Liga fixtures abroad. As FourFourTwo reports, Charlie Stillitano, the chairman of Relevant Sports, is one of the executives leading the charge for matches to be played abroad.
There are still big questions to be asked. Real Madrid and Barcelona already have grueling competition schedules. Would adding another long-distance trip to an already packed travel schedule really be something beneficial for these La Liga teams?
The reports that have circulated thus far suggest that Barcelona and Real Madrid are the main attractions La Liga is seeking to promote abroad. If that’s the case, would the two teams be forced to play each other abroad? If so, who loses out on having a home match for one of the two El Clásicos? If not, how does La Liga determine who gets to face off against the two Spanish giants in a foreign land, and would those clubs even be interested?
There are lots of details to work out, but I, for one, would love to see some competitive football here in the United States.
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