Javier Tebas has confirmed that El Clasico won’t be played in the USA as La Liga look to expand their presence there.
Plans were recently announced to play a La Liga game in the USA every season for the next 15 years, with the first game potentially being this season. It hasn’t been decided which fixture that will be as of yet, however, it has met stern opposition from the Spanish Footballer’s Association due to the failure to consult them on this decision.
The planning behind this move is clearly in the early stages, but the announcement has certainly attracted plenty of interest positively and negatively. Tebas, who is the president of La Liga, was quick to point out that El Clasico won’t be played abroad, at least in the league, in his interview with El Mundo.
This is good news for Barcelona and Real Madrid fans because the derby wouldn’t be the same if it was played outside of their respective stadiums. The occasion wouldn’t be the same because the low amount of away fans means that an intimidating atmosphere can be created, which is obviously a huge advantage. In contrast, a match in the US would have a lot of neutral fans and the general passion of the supporters is unlikely to be the same.
Barcelona are still a prime candidate to be chosen due to being one of the biggest sides in Europe, never mind Spain, along with Real Madrid, so there should be a bigger pool of overseas fans to draw from which naturally means more money through higher attendances and a higher chance of success.
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There are multiple reasons why the decision to have a league abroad game is a bad idea. It might only be one game currently, but this will soon change. The uniqueness of the match is likely to attract more fans than it would in Spain because a big venue could be chosen as well as the fact that a big team is probably going to be involved, as mentioned above. This will encourage more games to be moved abroad and then it starts gathering momentum behind it.
Disrupting the scheduling of European leagues by playing games abroad encourages the formation of a European super league. There is little difference between them once tradition starts to be ignored, aside from the fact that a league with the top teams in Europe would be a lot more profitable.
Playing games abroad also destabilises the league schedule format because it’s built to be fair and a proper indication of how good each team was rather than relying on a knockout tournament where luck plays a much bigger part. The team playing a ‘home’ game abroad would be at a disadvantage and it could have an effect on that team’s chance of winning the league, finishing in a European place or avoiding relegation depending on who they are.
Therefore, the strong opposition to this decision by the Spanish Footballer’s Association is important because this is a bad decision for La Liga, and Spanish football in general, in the long run