Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
MLS and Liga MX have a little brother-big brother relationship. One is older, more street wise and experienced, while the other is young, slightly more naïve, but with a different view on a changing world. They both may loathe each other at times, but they will have to work together in many ways to not just survive but thrive. They are bitter rivals competing for the same attention, yet also need to work together for the greater good of the collective, not the individual.
These two leagues couldn’t be more different to one another, yet they both need each other now more than ever. Such a confluence of circumstances has meant that their partnership was inevitable. But while the two leagues duke it out in CONCACAF Champions League, on TV and in the ticket booth for market share, they are also trying to work together with competitions like the Campeones Cup and the new Leagues Cup (no relation to England’s League Cup, thankfully) to bring the leagues closer together. While that helps both leagues, particularly MLS, this latest venture is a prime example of how both leagues can miss so badly in the quest for a common goal, and how far their partnership needs to be mutually beneficial.
The “Leagues Cup” is simply a knockout tournament featuring four MLS teams playing four Liga MX teams for glory, rivalry and a whole lot of money, or so these leagues think. The four MLS teams in this tournament seem as if they were picked at random, but they’re not so random when you consider how many Mexican-Americans are in Chicago, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Houston. All games will take place in the US, ostensibly for financial reasons so fans of Cruz Azul, Xolos, Tigres and Club America can see their team play and pay through the nose for it.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the old North American SuperLiga, which existed a decade ago, was almost identical, especially in its first edition, though later the tournament did use the same qualification as CCL now does for entry. All games were played in US venues during the summer, and the games were taken somewhat lightly by the MLS teams and even more lightly by the Mexican teams who were preparing for their new season to begin. Eventually, as CCL became more important, the SuperLiga wilted and eventually went away.
Houston has already suggested that for their game against Tigres, who they already played in CCL back in March, that they will use players from their reserve side, RGV FC, as they will be in a stretch of 15 games in 40 days and playoff qualification is paramount. Both the Galaxy and RSL could in theory do the same thing if they so chose to alleviate wear and tear on their big players as they try to make the playoffs. RSL and the Galaxy have said all the right things publicly about these games mattering, but when it comes to this, the US Open Cup or qualifying for the playoffs, the ladder of importance is a predictable one.
Early returns for this MLS-Liga MX partnership are the one off Campeones Cup between the Campeon de Campeones winner (Apertura and Clausura) and the previous MLS Cup Champion. While the timing is better for both leagues than it was in the first edition, the game still doesn’t have any cache, value or meaning to who wins it; certainly nothing like CCL does. This new tournament is exactly the same, and it’s hard to see anyone on either side taking it that seriously. MLS desperately wants the regular season to matter more, hence the change in playoff structure. There is a desire on all sides to give the US Open Cup more value. Adding in a needless knockout tournament with four “random” teams for money and money only does neither of those things and disadvantages these teams to their other counterparts. If this is the seedling for a potential North American Super League, which also is a rotten idea, how does it make sense to send better than average Liga MX sides but middling MLS sides, who are only in it because of the number of Latinos in their market?
This tournament is a cynical exercise in a partnership that does little to benefit either side and only lines the pockets of those who already have plenty of money. MLS teams will not benefit from playing glorified friendlies against Liga MX teams in preseason with reserve lineups, and Liga MX teams don’t see any marked improvements either. These two leagues that need each other to compete in an imbalanced global soccer marketplace, let alone the North American sports sphere, are going about this partnership from entirely the wrong angle.
Where this partnership should thrive theoretically is bringing the two leagues closer where it matters; how can Liga MX help MLS capitalize on a TV audience that exists for one league but not the other on both sides of the border? Can Liga MX all-stars, voted in by fans, play the MLS all stars in the All-Star Game every year rather than a random European team in preseason mode? Can these leagues come together in marketing and social media initiatives? Is there a better way to bring these leagues to a more level playing field than inconveniencing certain MLS teams during the middle of a crowded fixture schedule to play glorified friendlies?
Liga MX has little cache outside of Mexico and heavily Latin markets in the US. It wants a piece of a pie that is growing, but is still finite not just in North America, but globally. MLS wants this too, and has started to realize that being the best league in the world by 2022 isn’t realistic, but isn’t the most popular league among those whom it should be. This partnership is a step in the right direction, but its creations have done nothing more than to inconvenience teams, devalue already publicized MLS initiatives and do little to address the core problems both leagues face in a changing marketplace.
These two brothers-in-arms will have to find a way to work together better than they are now, because their ultimate successes depend on each other in ways they might not want to admit, but are becoming more and more important with each passing day.
