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In September, 2020 MLS Cup Champions Columbus Crew SC (in black uniforms) will face off with Liga MX's champions.
Could a merger between the MLS and Liga MX soon form "the best league in the world?"
That's what FIFA President Gianni Infantino said last week. It's the first time that FIFA has recognized the potential of such a merger and viewed it "in a positive light."
On Thursday, Mexico's football federation President Yon de Luisa, spurred on by Infantino's comments, hinted that Liga MX may be interested as well. The prospect, which has been discussed by various MLS leaders since at least 2018, would merge two of North America's biggest leagues. Teams would span from southern Mexico to Montreal, Canada.
The project would be years away, but there are some pretty real advantages to a North American "super league." Here's a few reasons why the merger might just happen.
1. Supportive leadership
MLS Commissioner Don Garber (MLS Buzz/Twitter)
As said before, FIFA President Infantino is already on board. In his statement, Infantino said that he saw North America as an up-and-coming force in soccer.
"We see the potential in North America—the economic potential and the potential in footballing terms," Infantino said. "I trust them to make the best decisions in that regard."
A week later, De Luisa gave positive remarks on the super merger, although he didn't say anything concrete about combining the leagues.
"Regarding the comments made by Infantino, I believe it is a reflection of what we've been working on... in the last few years," De Luisa said. "In 2018, when we presented (the World Cup bid), we made that happen with a lot of work, a lot of synergy and understanding that we do better when we're together as opposed to apart."
MLS officials have teased North American fans for a few years now with scattered rumors on the possible merger.
In December, MLS Commissioner Don Garber made it clear that while there will be no jumbo league on the continent for many years, it's a prospect they're definitely considering.
"Could there ever be a moment where the leagues come together in a more formal way than just playing with interleague play? Perhaps," Garber told ESPN. "But it's a long way away."
2. Past, current collaboration
(Campeones Cup/Twitter)
A merger would be difficult if the two leagues hadn't communicated in the past. Luckily, both the MLS and Liga MX are doing a lot of teamwork lately.
Most recently, the two launched the Leagues Cup, an annual tournament that features the two best teams from each conference in both leagues. The cup began in 2019, paused in 2020 due to the pandemic and will start up in August of this year.
The Campeones Cup is another example of tri-nation collaboration. In late September, 2020 MLS Cup Champions Columbus Crew SC will face off with Liga MX's champions, hosted in the U.S.
Regarding the cups, Liga MX's Executive President Mikel Arriola said he recognizes that a significant number of Liga MX fans are in the U.S. (another good reason for a merger.)
"The announcement regarding the return of Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup is crucial for the project to internationalize Liga MX," Arriola said. "We know that North America has a large number of fans, and over 30% on average of the audience for our league's games comes from the United States, which speaks to the importance of getting closer to our fanbase in the northern region of the continent."
Another significant move between all North American countries was the successful bid for the 2026 World Cup. Mexico, Canada and the U.S. collaborated back in 2018 to bring the world's biggest soccer stage to the continent with the "United 2026" bid, which beat out Morocco as the site for the event. It's the first time that three countries will host the World Cup in just another showcase of North American solidarity.
3. 2026 World Cup
We are ready to welcome the world to North America! Thank you to all who supported our vision for a united @FIFAWorldCup! 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xuQAh2dBzc
— United 2026 (@united2026) June 13, 2018
Because of the World Cup, all eyes are on North America for the first time in a long time. More than half the world regularly tunes in to the FIFA World Cup, and hosting such a large-scale event is sure to bring attention to U.S. and Mexican soccer.
The U.S. will host 60 of the cup's 80 matches, while Canada and Mexico will each host 10. Aside from putting the nations' soccer on a global stage, the cup is giving North American leagues the spotlight from all kinds of FIFA higher-ups, including Infantino.
FIFA used to be against international leagues, but they've been letting up since 2016, according to ESPN. As the MLS begins to be taken seriously, there's great potential that FIFA could give the merger a green light after the World Cup.
4. Money, prestige, competition
(Futebol Intl FC/Twitter)
Liga MX is a North American and global giant already—It's the fourth most attended league in the world.
The MLS may seem like an infant next to one of the America's most powerful leagues, but it has financial backing where it lacks in prestige.
Seventeen MLS clubs were put into Soccerex's Football Finance 100, an index of the sports' most financially-rich teams, while only three Liga MX clubs were up to par.
As the MLS finally brings some star talent and shakes off its image as a retirement home for aging stars, both the MLS and Liga MX could benefit from the merger.
5. Rivalry turned profit
(Leagues Cup/Twitter)
As stated before, more than 30% of Liga MX's fan base is in America. In fact, more Americans tune into Liga MX than to the MLS itself. This shared customer base has caused tension in the past as each competes for more influence, but a merger would solve these issues.
With attention coming in from the biggest names in soccer, every North American superfan's fantasy may not be too far off.
NEXT:
Adding another universal language: Matthew McConaughey and MLS's Don Garber say ATX will be the next big soccer town at SXSW
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Miami and Austin are going head-to-head for tech transplants. (Pexels)
California expats and industry experts say Austin remains the bigger draw for Californians, especially those in the tech sector, but warn that this advantage could shift to Miami if the city doesn't address the policy challenges that prompted the migration in the first place: housing affordability.
"If Austin doesn't accommodate this influx, I think all the talent will come to Miami," said Peter Yared, a tech entrepreneur who moved to Miami from San Francisco in September. "I think Miami's going to be the one that sucks it all up."
Push factors
Both Texas and Florida promise business-friendly state tax policies, and their governors tout the relocations of companies such as Tesla and Oracle from California. But Darien Shanske, a law professor at the University of California Davis whose specialties include taxation, said this is a red herring because corporate taxes are based on where sales occur rather than headquarter locations.
This is not to say other state policies are irrelevant. "The area in which California regulatory policy has been, in my opinion, not a complete failure but problematic … is housing policy," Shanske said. Austin and Miami can offer "not cheap, just cheaper" housing than what is available in Silicon Valley. Plus, both cities are developing a critical mass of talent, which further draws Californians in. "If you're a software engineer, you want to live near other software engineers," he added.
But not every Californian is motivated to move. "San Francisco is a fantastic place to live if you can afford it," said Brandy Aven, a professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. As a result, it's more common for what she called the labor—engineers, programmers and even company founders—to relocate to cities such as Austin and Miami than the monied venture capitalists. Burgeoning tech cities may find that they need to develop homegrown investor networks to support local ventures in the absence of Californian transplants, but she believes this is doable.
Pull factors
Paul O'Brien, CEO of the Austin-based MediaTech Ventures and a startup veteran, moved to Austin from California in 2009, during the Great Recession. "I'm a firm believer that the world has been seeking an alternative to Silicon Valley for a long time," he said, pointing to Austin as the natural heir for myriad reasons.
Austin has regional appeal as the epicenter of three of the country's largest cities—Houston, Dallas and San Antonio—and their respective industry niches. Tech entrepreneurs could cater to the local consumer goods industry or Houston's oil and gas sector. Plus the city has cultural appeal, thanks to the Red River District and South by Southwest, which made it attractive to job seekers. "The whole reason everyone moved to Silicon Valley is opportunity," O'Brien said. "The whole reason people are now looking beyond Silicon Valley to somewhere else is opportunity."
It's less clear what Miami's key industries are, O'Brien said, but the city offers other selling points, including the mayor's buy-in and "a tremendous depth of wealth" to support a technology and startup ecosystem.
Although Yared didn't consider moving to Austin, he is aware of its appeal to engineers, especially now that their hero, Elon Musk, has moved there, shunning California. "Austin has a lock on tech," he said, but Miami draws a different crowd, including financiers from New York. This parallel migration, coupled with the city's more outwardly pro-growth building policies, gives him hope that Miami could supplant Austin in the coming years. "In the end, communities get to choose what they want," he said.
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