Nearly six years have passed since LaLiga scrapped its controversial plan to take a match between Barcelona and Girona to Miami, due to a “lack of consensus” on the matter at the time.
That was supposed to be the first chapter in a 15-year arrangement with their media partner Relevent, one that would have seen one Spanish league game per season played in the United States.
The proposal faced widespread opposition on various fronts. In Spain, the federation (RFEF) and players’ union were both strongly against the idea which would also have needed the backing of UEFA and CONCACAF, amongst others.
Much like the Premier League’s doomed “39th game” plan in 2008which would have seen an extra round of English top flight fixtures staged abroad, LaLiga’s big idea to take fixtures overseas never got close to getting off the ground.
So why then, has the idea resurfaced in 2024?
And why, at a time when the football calendar is busier than ever and when the increasing demands on players is such a hot topic, has this story seemingly floated under the radar, with apparently much less opposition than was the case six years ago?
LaLiga’s plan to play Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid in Miami
The plan, first announced last month, is for Barcelona’s home game against Atletico Madrid at the end of December to be staged in the United States, with Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium the proposed venue.
Despite the failure of the 2018 proposal, LaLiga president Javier Tebas has remained in favour of taking Spanish top flight football abroad and staging a league meeting between two of LaLiga’s “big three” would surely generate huge interest across the Atlantic.
The fixture is scheduled to take place on LaLiga matchday 18, the final round of league games in 2024, before a three week winter break. It was anticipated to take place in Barcelona on either Saturday 21st or Sunday 22nd December.
However, there was already some uncertainty over the venue. Barca were initially hopeful of having Camp Nou ready in time for the game, albeit with a limited capacity, following the extensive redevelopment works which have forced them to play home games at the Estadi Olimpic since the beginning of last season.
Why now?
One of the arguments against the previous plan to take LaLiga action overseas, was the disruption and complications it would cause for locally based supporters, particularly season ticket holders who would effectively have lost out on a fixture.
However, with many Catalan-based Barca fans already staying away while the club plays at a temporary home for which there is little love for, and with disruption and uncertainty expected throughout the club’s 2024/25 campaign given the ongoing redevelopment of Camp Nou, it certainly feels as though LaLiga may have deemed this a convenient moment to revive their overseas ambitions.
While there will still be Barcelona season ticket holders who won’t be best pleased by this, such a situation will not arise again any time soon, at least not involving one of the three biggest Spanish clubs, with Barcelona expected to be back at Camp Nou on a full-time basis next season.
The timing of the game just before the winter break is also convenient for the clubs, who have both reportedly given the green light to the planin that the travel time will have no impact on upcoming fixtures with neither scheduled to play again in 2024 after the match.
That’s not to say that things will be quite so simple in the future, but if LaLiga are able to take a game overseas for the first time next month, a precedent will have been set, and they’ll likely find it much easier to take matches to the United States or elsewhere in future years.
Tebas may argue that a precedent has already been set, with the Spanish Supercopa (an RFEF competition) set to be staged in Saudi Arabia for the fifth time in January 2025. For opponents of the idea of taking domestic football abroad, of which there are many, it already feels as though the battle has been lost to some extent.
That may help explain why there has been considerably less pushback against this latest plan from LaLiga, when compared to the 2018 proposal. In fact, the proposed game in Miami has generated surprisingly little in the way of media attention or vocal criticism this time around.
Perhaps they are just being cautious given how things fell apart six years ago, but there is certainly the suspicion that LaLiga might have decided that doing this quietly and with little initial fanfare is the best way to get things off the ground.
Another factor which helps explain why we’re suddenly talking about LaLiga action taking place overseas again, was a resolution between FIFA and Relevent in a lawsuit earlier this year surrounding the potential for domestic club games to be staged in foreign countries.
Football’s governing body has since signalled a further shift in policy on the matter by setting up a new working group to “issue recommendations” on the topic. While it’s still not quite a full endorsement of LaLiga’s plan, it’s clear that there is far less opposition from the game’s governing body this time around.
The obstacles that may still prevent it happening
While it appears we are close to seeing competitive Spanish football in the US, there are still a number of obstacles that must be overcome before this game becomes a reality.
Despite FIFA’s shift, there has been no such resolution between U.S. Soccer and Relevent, with the former understandably concerned about the impact staging fixtures from big European leagues could potentially have on their own product and the overall health of Major League Soccer.
There are also problems closer to home for Tebas, LaLiga and the two clubs to worry about. Despite improving relations between the league and the federation which have also helped revive the notion of Stateside LaLiga action, the RFEF has still asked the Sports Administrative Court (TAD) to rule on the matter. That’s a process which may take some time, with formal approval needed before any further steps could be taken.
Even then, LaLiga would need to get the final go-ahead from the relevant football authorities on both sides of the Atlantic.
LaLiga’s plan to take one of its matches overseas for the first time may be closer to fruition than it ever has been previously, but there are still many hurdles to get past before we see Hansi Flick’s Barcelona and Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid jetting off to sunny Florida in December, for a potentially seismic fixture that could herald in a new era for football.
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