(12-12-2020 04:11 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Can't see MLS signing up to play in Copa Libertadores. Imagine LAFC, for example, playing an MLS match one weekend, then playing a Copa match in Argentina on Wednesday -- with a 15-hour flight in each direction -- and then playing another MLS match back in the US on Saturday or Sunday. No way.

As for Liga MX, here's one indication of how far MLS has to go to reach Liga MX's TV popularity in the US -- over twice as many people in the US watched the Liga MX playoffs on a Spanish-language cable channel (Univision) as watched an MLS playoff match on the Fox broadcast network last week.

Quote:In other international soccer action, Univision averaged 1.9 million for the second leg of the Léon-Chivas Liga MX semifinal last Saturday and 1.8 million for the second leg of UNAM-Cruz Azul last Sunday. The matches rank as the third and fourth-most watched soccer telecasts on any network in 2020, behind the UEFA Champions League final in August (2.05M) and the America-Chivas Liga MX quarterfinal over Thanksgiving weekend (2.5M).

On the domestic side, the December 3 Sporting KC-Minnesota United MLS semifinal averaged 851,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network — the second-largest MLS playoff audience, outside of the MLS Cup, since 1998. The match aired in place of a postponed Thursday Night Football game.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/12...ga-mx-mls/

Which is actually a good reason for the leagues to get together to a greater degree.

The US market is huge and filled with Spanish speaking soccer fans. Mexico is a far more dedicated soccer culture, but it is a far poorer country and much smaller in population.

Any MLS/Liga MX agreement represents what standard trade between countries represents...an opportunity to sell goods and expand the marketplace.

I don't know that we will see a straight merger, but I think Liga MX has to be happy that another serious soccer league is on the continent. One of the reasons UEFA Champions League works so well and is so profitable in Europe is because there are so many good leagues and clubs in proximity to one another.

The US represents a growing market for soccer and consequently a growing market for Liga MX clubs. Simply by virtue of playing MLS squads with more regularity, their exposure to the US population(English speaking) is increased significantly. MLS is not everything it could be, but has made great strides in the last 20 years. The next 20 years will likely be even more groundbreaking.

20 years ago, the suggestion that the two leagues merge would have been met with laughter...like the NFL merging with the Arena League or some such nonsense. Now, there is only skepticism, but it's based in logistics and economics rather than rationality.

(12-13-2020 02:14 AM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(12-12-2020 04:11 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Can't see MLS signing up to play in Copa Libertadores. Imagine LAFC, for example, playing an MLS match one weekend, then playing a Copa match in Argentina on Wednesday -- with a 15-hour flight in each direction -- and then playing another MLS match back in the US on Saturday or Sunday. No way.

As for Liga MX, here's one indication of how far MLS has to go to reach Liga MX's TV popularity in the US -- over twice as many people in the US watched the Liga MX playoffs on a Spanish-language cable channel (Univision) as watched an MLS playoff match on the Fox broadcast network last week.

Quote:In other international soccer action, Univision averaged 1.9 million for the second leg of the Léon-Chivas Liga MX semifinal last Saturday and 1.8 million for the second leg of UNAM-Cruz Azul last Sunday. The matches rank as the third and fourth-most watched soccer telecasts on any network in 2020, behind the UEFA Champions League final in August (2.05M) and the America-Chivas Liga MX quarterfinal over Thanksgiving weekend (2.5M).

On the domestic side, the December 3 Sporting KC-Minnesota United MLS semifinal averaged 851,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network — the second-largest MLS playoff audience, outside of the MLS Cup, since 1998. The match aired in place of a postponed Thursday Night Football game.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/12...ga-mx-mls/

Which is actually a good reason for the leagues to get together to a greater degree.

The US market is huge and filled with Spanish speaking soccer fans. Mexico is a far more dedicated soccer culture, but it is a far poorer country and much smaller in population.

Any MLS/Liga MX agreement represents what standard trade between countries represents...an opportunity to sell goods and expand the marketplace.

I don't know that we will see a straight merger, but I think Liga MX has to be happy that another serious soccer league is on the continent. One of the reasons UEFA Champions League works so well and is so profitable in Europe is because there are so many good leagues and clubs in proximity to one another.

The US represents a growing market for soccer and consequently a growing market for Liga MX clubs. Simply by virtue of playing MLS squads with more regularity, their exposure to the US population(English speaking) is increased significantly. MLS is not everything it could be, but has made great strides in the last 20 years. The next 20 years will likely be even more groundbreaking.

20 years ago, the suggestion that the two leagues merge would have been met with laughter...like the NFL merging with the Arena League or some such nonsense. Now, there is only skepticism, but it's based in logistics and economics rather than rationality.

The business models of the two leagues are far different, and it would be far too costly to buy out enough teams to create one merged league of manageable size.

The difference in MLS and Liga MX regular seasons would be another problem in any integration between leagues. MLS' off-season is the winter and Liga MX's is the summer and neither is ever likely to change. You don't want to have to sell tickets in Mexico City all summer, and you don't want to have to sell tickets in Columbus, NYC, or Foxboro all winter (this isn't Europe where fans have accepted for decades that sometimes the game is played in the rain or snow). You do want to sell MLS tickets all summer when school is out and the only direct competition for sports ticket sales is MLB.

What they could do someday, if there's enough money in it, is something like a Champions League style tournament among the top teams in each of the leagues that stretches out over a few months. There's a ways to go before that would be a money maker. CONCACAF Champions League games are treated, by fans and TV, pretty much like exhibition matches. There would have to be some way of convincing fans that a MLS vs. Liga MX competition is a much bigger deal than that.