Mexico and the United States have completed their most ambitious soccer project: the Leagues Cup 2023, which will be the first to bring together 100% of both leagues for a month. Thus, 46 clubs (18 of the MX League and 28 of the MLS) will face each other in a format still unknown during the month of August of that year and all the games will be in the United States.
“With this it is clear that the Concachampions is not a sufficiently broad tournament for the two countries, furthermore, this is not new, it has been pursuing for more than 20 years the relationship between Mexican and American football”, describes Javier Salinas, a specialist in sports business and marketing, as well as a former marketing director of the MX League.
Although the authorities of both leagues have not yet specified how the tournament will be played, the estimated income from broadcasting rights alone is between 92 and 138 million dollars, corresponding to an average of two to three million for each team, of according to figures from the expert Javier Salinas. To this would be added the income from brands that want to join as main sponsors, such as naming right, in addition to the box office sales, which, since all games are in US stadiums, would have a maximum capacity of between 18,000 and 71,000 spectators.
“The fact that, in the US at least, these television rights are going to be sold together is going to offer huge revenue benefits, aside from sponsorships, box office or box office sales. They are combining efforts and they are also going to share those profits equally between the two leagues at 50% in all these aspects. It has to be this way because MX League he is bringing a lot to the table with his brand ”, Walter Franco, a sports business advisor based in Salt Lake City, Utah, explains to this newspaper.
Thus, only for the transmission rights, the MX League He would pocket up to 69 million dollars in a month, a figure that contrasts with the Mexican national team, as media such as As and the Los Angeles Times have reported that it pocketed up to 10 million for five friendlies in the United States but over a year.
“Economically it is something that is very useful to the Liga MX clubs in particular because of what they have suffered in the pandemic,” adds Walter Franco, alluding to the 1.4 billion dollars that the competition lost in the 2020-21 season, as well as a 40% reduction in revenue for each of the 18 clubs.
“Obviously this is a tournament for and for money. Regarding income, the sale of television rights is the most important, followed by box offices and sponsors, which in the US will be easier to find a naming right because there they have a different commercial mentality, ”Salinas abounds.
In the last three years, Mexico and the United States have strengthened their relations with the creation of the Campeones Cup, to face the current monarch of the MX League and of the MLS, as well as the Leagues Cup, which was born with four teams on each side, and this summer the All-Star Game was added, a model copied from the star games of the North American sports system, such as the MLB, NFL and NBA. However, in previous years there were already friendly cups between the two countries such as the World Series organized between 2005 and 2007, the ‘The Bridge’ cup in 2017 and also the Interliga, which although it was contested by pure Mexican clubs, was held in the territory American (from 2004 to 2010).
Economic benefits, but disappointment with the fans
But this increase in tournaments in the last triennium plus the Leagues Cup 2023 With 46 teams it has a high risk, Javier Salinas mentions: “Like everything else, there will be games that will work and others that will not, but there is a high risk of eroding the value of the rivalry between Mexico and the United States. The abuse of this type of tournaments can generate that in the long run it only brings disenchantment with the three hobbies in question: the Anglo-Saxon, Hispanic who lives in the United States and the Mexican ”.
The specialist points out that no one has mentioned that there are three markets to attack with this tournament “and that, beware, they are completely different. A market study is needed in Mexico asking the fans if instead of seeing America they would prefer to see one of the MLS ”.
“The original goal is the complete merger between Liga MX and MLS,” emphasizes Walter Franco, that is to say, a binational league tournament that has already received the approval of Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, and that is what the experiments like the Leagues Cup and the Campeones Cup.
However, creating a league would bring negative consequences beyond the money that can be exploited: “A lot of cultural baggage would be lost, which is something very similar to what happened with the European Super League, where the fans of the founders themselves refused. This may be different in the format but deep down it is the same, if you just want to unify yourself you are going to have a problem of identities, customs and culture; economically, it is clear that it would be a milestone, but you have to be much more careful with what you can lose, because in Mexico soccer is very fragile, it is losing ratings, income, young fans and you start to play against teams (from the MLS ) that do not offer you anything historically ”.
Back in the Leagues Cup, another factor against is that there are not Mexicans throughout the United States and, therefore, there is no attachment to Liga MX clubs, says Walter Franco.
“I have my doubts about the box office, yes there will be interest from Mexican Americans, but not so much for the general public. The Americans are tired of friendlies or any similar format and right now the tournament does not have much incentive to advance. There would be a very bad entry in New York, for example, or Minnesota, Miami, Cincinnati or Columbus, where there is no presence of Mexicans and they are a secondary market. Chicago, Missouri, North Carolina, Los Angeles and Atlanta are strong venues ”.
For this specialist, the different sports options that exist in the United States in summer will also weigh against the Leagues Cup, since the last two months of the Major League Baseball (MLB) regular phase, the start of the NFL preseason, are played. , college football and even European football leagues, with television and streaming offers from the Premier League, LaLiga and the Bundesliga.
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx