Skip to main content

Barcelona hopes to play league match in US

Staging Premier League matches abroad was an unfulfilled ambition of outgoing Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore. However, La Liga is seeking permission from the Spanish Football Federation to move the January 26th fixture between Girona and FC Barcelona to Miami's Hard Rock stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team.

They has thus got ahead of the Premier League in taking a further symbolic step along the road towards the globalisation of football.

The plan to play La Liga games overseas forms part of a joint venture between La Liga and Relevent Sports, a US promoter backed by Stephen Ross, the billionaire owner of the Dolphins. The objective is to increase La Liga's revenue from sponsorship and media rights in North America. The presence of a large population of Hispanic origin in Miami makes it a particularly suitable venue for the first game in the US.

Qatar-based beIN Sports is paying $60m dollars a season for the US broadcast rights to La Liga. However, NBC pays roughly $166m dollars a season to show Premier League matches in the US.

In August La Liga signed a 15-year deal with Relevent, which launched the International Champions Cup, a summer tournament of matches played in countries including the US and China.

Increasingly, what at one time was the apparently unstoppable march of globalisation has been halted by domestic resistance expressed in the new politics of populism. Spanish fan groups argue that overseas match disenfranchise local fans. A compensation package is to be offered to Girona season ticket holders.

It is by no means certain that the Spanish Football Federation will allow the match to go ahead. They have complained about a lack of respect by La Liga in signing the deal with Relevent without holding any talks with the Spanish football authorities.

There has also been concern expressed in the US where the staging of such matches is seen as a threat to the expanding MSL which is going to have a franchise in Miami. US Soccer and Fifa would need to approve the plan. It is by no means a done deal.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more