La Liga matches could be staged outside Spain
for the first time in history as Football authorities in Spain are giving the
idea a serious consideration.
President of La Liga, Javier Tebas, has revealed
that discussions have begun concerning the subject matter and the proposal is set
to be talked over by the league’s 20 clubs.
The move is said to be part of the Spanish top
division’s steps of seeking greater financial revenues from international
audiences, including broadcasting and sponsorship deals.
“La Liga is global entertainment and we want
to grow [the league’s] international appeal,” Tebas said.
“As
part of that effort we are discussing the option of playing some of the league
matches outside of Spain.”
USA and China have already been identified as
potential venues for the games which will be played like normal league
encounters.
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Relevent Sports, a US-based promoter who
founded the International Champions Cup (ICC) pre-season competition four years
ago, is reported to have developed the concept which could be implemented as
soon as next year.
The Relevent chairman, Charlie Stillitano, speaking
at this week’s Soccerex event in Manchester, said “the future is to do official
[league] games in the US, China and other places”.
“There are leagues that are talking to us
about potentially doing something in the future,” he added.
The proposals are reminiscent of the Premier
League’s controversial “39th game” initiative, which were shelved in 2008 after
widespread opposition.
In England, there appears to be no such plans.
The Premier League chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, said no plans were
currently in place to stage league matches abroad.
“There is no [current] plan to do it,”
Scudamore said. “The clubs would like to do it but we are also realistic that
says until the reaction is any more warm, it won’t happen,” he added.
“If it did, it wouldn’t be a 39th game ... but
there is no prospect of it happening any time soon. We have no time set for it
but I am a man of belief. I thought it was the right thing to do, I still do.”
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La Liga will be hoping to follow the footsteps
of NFL, as playing regular season games abroad has proved a success for them. 16
games have been held at Wembley Stadium since 2007 and five more will be played
overseas in 2017 – at Wembley, Twickenham and Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca.
The NBA have also held games at London’s O2
Arena, with Major League Baseball keen to follow suit.
Europe’s major football leagues have yet to
arrange fixtures overseas, although the Supercoppa Italiana – Italy’s version
of the Community Shield –has been played in the USA, China and Qatar.
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