Is this for real? First I've heard of it... https://worldsoccertalk.com/2019/12/10/next-mls-tv-rights-deal-make-break-fledgling-league/ Liga MX president Enrique Bonilla expressed interest. “It’s a possibility, a North American league. We have to determine how and see the pros and cons, but I think that’s a way to grow and to compete again. If we can make a World Cup, then we can make a North American league or a North American cup. The main idea is that we have to grow together to compete. If not, there is only going to be the rich guys in Europe and the rest of the world.” According to MLS Commissioner Don Garber in an interview with ESPN this summer, the ultimate dream is “a league that is combined in some way.” https://www.espn.com/soccer/concaca...in-the-future-mlb-might-provide-the-blueprint
This will never happen. Would we agree to relegation leagues? No. Would Mexico agree to salary caps? Transfers being capped? Drafts? This just seems impossible to me.
Liga MX is already moving to get rid of pro/rel. They've put restrictions on which teams can actually be promoted should they earn it. Also it takes a lot for a team to be relegated from Liga MX as they use the combined record from the previous 3 seasons. They've been moving to a closed league setup for a few years now. MLS also doesn't have a salary cap, they have a salary budget. Business (i.e. team) owners would welcome a salary budget as it would help them control costs and increase profits. The transfer window in Liga MX is also considered a sudo "draft" already, where all inter league business happens during a meeting/week long run up to the new season. Not to mention the MLS Draft is largely an after thought anymore, and has been for around 5 years now. Those mechanisms for bringing talent to MLS are slowly being phased out. There are barriers to this though. One being CONCACAF, which just recently forced Ottawa Fury to sell their USL operating rights because they wouldn't sanction a team playing in a cross border league. The president of the federation also used to be the head of the CSA. He doesn't seem interested at all in a NA Super League setup. They've also been "trying" to build the Champions League into a bigger event. The other would be FIFA, however, they might not be as big a hurdle if the proposed combined Belgium/Dutch league ever comes to fruition. Some of this could just be posturing by MLS and Liga MX to force CONCACAF to yet again revamp the CL (more MLS/Liga MX matchups). It's no secret that Liga MX covets the $$$ available to them in the US Market. MLS covets the $$$ that Liga MX/MLS matchups can bring. People way too often overlook/ignore the fact that the most popular / watched soccer league in the US is Liga MX. Right now Liga MX doesn't have a lot of room to grow in Mexico.....in the US though....they have only been skimming the surface.
India is to operate a league that's a combination of a single-entity type organization and independent clubs. I'm not sure if that would work. If you created a MLS/Liga MX "super league" you could have domestic second divisions which operate as Liga MX and MLS do today. The super league would have fewer restrictions on signings or salaries than MLS does today, while the domestic second divisions have their own rules. Promotion and relegation to a super league could work, The question would be what to do with player contracts for promoted and relegated teams. As mentioned there's no salary cap in MLS. The draft is almost dead anyway. Finally, I think Liga MX is looking at MLS jealousy and would be happy to adopt some of the ideas that keeps costs down while sharing revenue. Based on last season's standings the 2020 Super Liga may consist of: New York City Atlanta United Philadelphia Union Toronto FC Los Angeles Football Club Seattle Sounders Real Salt Lake Minnesota United Cruz Azul Querétaro Monterrey Santos Laguna Toluca UNAM UANL América That league would operate under its own rules but US/Canadian clubs would remain part of the single-entity guaranteeing some form of revenue sharing (like the Premier League sharing some of its revenue with the Football League). MLS and Liga MX would operate as domestic first divisions utilizing their own rules but with promotion and relegation to the Super Liga. CPL, USL and Ascenso MX would operate as domestic second divisions. No Cascadia Cup games for Seattle would be a bummer.
Infantino actually backs the idea: www.tellerreport.com › sports › 2019-12-20---inf... Infantino: "FIFA has a duty to study plans like BeNeLiga ... Vertaal deze pagina 20 dec. 2019 - According to Gianni Infantino, FIFA is open to creating new competitions. The chairman of the World Football Association therefore wants to ...
On one hand, I'd love for the increase in exposure and this could absolutely remake the US soccer landscape if US and Mexican fans were aligned in support of a single league. The potential fanbase is enormous and the scomonic might could well be substantial. On the other hand, it looks pretty far fetched to think MLS would deconstruct its single-entity ownership model, which many team owners from other places would like with its cost controls and loss protections. Be careful what you wish for because something like this may well see LigaMx teams operating more like MLS teams rather than the other way around were it to happen.
Well, if one group of teams operated under a completely different economic model, it wouldn't be a very fair league.
Champions League teams operate under different models. But single-entity ≠ salary budget or any other restraint. MLS would have to decide what economic model would give it's teams a fair shot at the Super Liga. And I think the top Mexican clubs have hinted that they are tempted by a similar model to MLS based on MLS team valuations.
I guess maybe I am misunderstanding this then. Champions League is a tournament in addition to normal league play. I thought this was talking about actually merging leagues. We already have a CCL competition for inter league play in the style of the Champions League. If the leagues truly merge, it would be more like half the Premier League teams operating under single entity with strict salary caps and the other half being free to spend as they see fit, not exactly an even playing field.
I don't think it's real, in the sense that there are concrete plans, more like the rich guys saying "sure, wouldn't it be great to have a world class league here". As others have said, this happens in steps. The CONCACAF champions league looks more like the UEFA champions league: more games and more attention. MLS loosens some of the spending/player restrictions, LMX adds to theirs. The champions league ends up with 6 or 7 teams from each league plus a few from the other countries. The top teams in the champions league return to the champions league while the bottom teams are replace by new teams from the national league: default promotion and relegation. LMX doesn't need to get rid of internal promotion, MLS doesn't have to add it. At some point, there are enough teams and games in the champions league that teams in that league don't play in the regular league that season. That last step is the hard one, but it's not impossible to imagine.
I'm pretty sure they wouldn't implement a combined league in which half the teams had a severe disadvantage. The single-entity is an ownership model and there is no salary cap. Toronto could have signed Messi, Ronaldo and Ramos at their peak and still met MLS salary rules.
Would FIFA really support a giant superleague, given what it would do to European soccer? You couldn't say no to an all-European superleague. Which means 15-20 clubs in each first division would be opposed to it.
Also, isn't this a little like when a poor school district wants to consolidate with a rich school district, and the poor one talks way more seriously about it? Would Liga MX want to attach themselves to the MLS semi-ponzi scheme?
The Super League that is being proposed is not a tournament like the Champions League. It is an actual league like MLS and Liga MX. I doubt they do this. First of all because both leagues operate differently. While in Liga MX teams can spend as they like on whom they like and as much as they like or can afford. It is completely different in MLS. In MLS you have a salary cap. They all will need to play under the same rules (it will be a "league" after all) even if it means no salary cap or a salary cap. I just don't see several Liga MX teams agreeing to be limited on how much or how they spend their money. I do see some MLS teams wanting to have the freedom of roster building like Liga MX but I also see several other MLS teams not willing to let go of a salary cap. I just see too many problems due to how both leagues operate; like single entity, obligatory 5 month break, Pro/Rel to name a few.