![\"Soccerex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755339487_107_960x0.jpg\")
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Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, talks during Day 1 of Soccerex Europe Convention at Tagus Park on September 5, 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.<\/p>\n
Getty Images <\/p>\n
La Liga president Javier Tebas is getting closer than ever to his long-held wish of staging a regular season match on American<\/a> soil after the Royal Spanish Football Federation approved his league\u2019s most recent proposal this week.<\/p>\n There are still several hurdles to clear before the fixture between Villareal and FC Barcelon \u2013 currently scheduled for Dec. 21 at Villareal\u2019s Estadio Ceramica \u2013 is officially moved to Miami Gardens, Florida.<\/p>\n And as the soccer world frets over whether the relocation will ultimately get the go-ahead, and whether it represents a net positive or negative for the sport around the world, there\u2019s one question that is curiously absent:<\/p>\n What evidence does Tebas have that playing Stateside will do La Liga more good than harm?<\/p>\n While there is imbalance in wealth, power and competitive history in nearly every elite European soccer league, the imbalance in La Liga is more severe than most. And when you look closely at the implications of taking matches to the U.S, it\u2019s pretty clear that doing so will only increase the leverage of La Liga\u2019s two elite clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, at the league\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Everyone Else<\/p>\n Real Madrid and Barcelona are No. 1 and No. 3 in Forbes\u2019 list of top 30 most-valuable soccer clubs for 2025<\/a>. Only one other La Liga club makes the cut, Atletico Madrid at No. 13. Those three top 30 clubs are fewer than England\u2019s Premier League, Italy\u2019s Serie A and even the United States\u2019 own MLS.<\/p>\n On the field, Real Madrid (36) and Barcelona (28) have won 64 of the 94 contested Spanish league championships, or 68% all time.<\/p>\n And historically, one of La Liga\u2019s biggest impediments to keeping pace with the Premier League in particular has been a failure to combat that imbalance more aggressively.<\/p>\n While the creation of the Premier League as a business entity in the early 1990s widened the gap between England\u2019s first and second tiers, the even distribution of TV revenue among clubs undeniably lifted the profile of all the clubs who have managed to play the majority of their seasons in the EPL since.<\/p>\n Take Chelsea and Manchester City, for example. All but one of Chelsea\u2019s six league titles have come in the Premier League era, as have all but two of City\u2019s 10 league-winning campaigns. Off the field, they\u2019ve become nearly as recognizable globally as more historic giants like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, and other teams in the EPL with less on-field success have also succeeded at growing considerable global followings.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, La Liga remains captive to its two dominant clubs even as it tries to take baby steps toward a more equitable dynamic. Until a decade ago, every La Liga club negotiated its own TV agreement<\/a>, leading to enormous revenue disparities. And even now that the league sells its rights collectively, it still funnels the most revenue to its biggest teams as a concession.<\/p>\n Yet Tebas\u2019 desire to play games on American soil is exactly the kind of endeavor that makes two-club domination harder to escape.<\/p>\n Giving Away Leverage<\/p>\n La Liga isn\u2019t as popular on U.S. TV as the Premier League, Liga MX, the Champions League or even MLS. And the only way La Liga games are commercially viable at the box office in the U.S. is if Real Madrid or Barcelona are playing. There simply aren\u2019t significant fanbases of other La Liga teams in North America \u2013 even among Spanish speaking fans \u2013 like there are of lesser-accomplished English teams like Crystal Palace, Fulham, Aston Villa, Everton, Newcastle and so on.<\/p>\n And if the idea of playing games on U.S. soil becomes a bigger part of La Liga\u2019s strategy, you can bet Barca and Real Madrid will demand far greater concessions than they currently receive. Already, media reports suggest it\u2019s Barcelona who will earn the majority of the revenue from a match in the U.S. that was a scheduled away fixture, estimated between $5.8 and $7 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the likelihood La Liga\u2019s move becomes a watershed event, making it easier for other leagues to justify taking their games global. If the Premier League or Liga MX \u2013 the leagues with the most robust U.S. fan presence \u2013 follow such an example, they\u2019ll probably have more success than La Liga in the endeavor. The end result could be the gap between the EPL and La Liga actually widening.<\/p>\n What the FIFA Club World Cup should\u2019ve made clear is that American fans will no longer attend major soccer events simply out of curiosity. They have more choices than ever on TV, and what they want to see in person will mirror their viewing habits.<\/p>\n In trying to stage games on American soil, La Liga is trying to run before it can walk. If it doesn\u2019t solve its competitive and financial balance problems first, the Land of Opportunity is likely to become its Land of Disappointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, talks during Day 1 of Soccerex Europe Convention at Tagus Park on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,24371,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-86990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-la-liga","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}