La Liga have reached a landmark agreement which could pave the way for other top-level European Football, including the Premier League teams, to play league games abroad. The league officials have agreed a whopping 15 year deal which will see matches played outside of the country of a top European league for the first time in history.
The agreement has been reached with multinational media and sports company Relevant, and one game of the La Liga season will be played in the United States this season, although a time, date and location is yet to be agreed.
The billionaire owner of the Miami Dolphins and backer of the Relevant company Ross said, in quotes carried by El Pais: "The goal of this extraordinary 'joint venture' is for the culture of football to grow in the United States. It will be a big step in its growing popularity.”
Real Madrid and Barcelona will be the two teams that US football fans will want to see in their country but whether they can draw them away from Spain remains to be seen. The Cheif Executive of Relevant Sports Danny Sillman told the Financial Times: “Our goal is to get one game off the ground; we’ll see how it proliferates from there. One of the opportunities with La Liga is to build a consumer brand which ultimately raises the value of the media rights. That’s where the bulk of the money will come from in this transaction. It’s our job to tell their story of their clubs and stars.”
The Premier League has flirted with the idea of staging a 39th game abroad in recent years but the idea was shelved after Sepp Blatter of all people, disagreed with the plans. Premier League clubs do travel all over the world for their pre-season tournaments and it would be no surprise if Richard Scudamore and the FA decide to resurface the potential of playing Premier League games abroad.
