The League MX reached its tenth anniversary since it was consolidated as a novel project in Mexico, wanting to compare immediately to the major European leagues. As always, the leaders sold the project to the media as a revolution that only remained in the imaginary.
In 2010, the Owners’ Assembly agreed to an advisory meeting with Rick Parry, the mastermind behind the structure we know of the Premier League in England and that entered into force in 1992. Parry is recognized for giving shape and development to the English league that today is considered the best in the world. At the time of the meeting between Parry and the Mexican owners, the latter they hoped to be able to copy the English mode. But they ran into completely opposite situations.
According to reports from different media, the first problem that Rick Parry encountered was that there was no possibility of resembling the English methodology. One of the main factors was the buying and selling of broadcasting rights. The Premier League negotiates its radio and television rights globally and all teams receive the same amount for said sale. In Mexico, The television stations negotiate team by team, so depending on who the venue is, some can be seen on open TV, others on cable and others on streaming. To this we must add that the two large television networks own some franchises.
Another of the economic issues within British football that is not very viable in Mexico is that, from the profits that the Premier obtains from sponsorships and broadcasting rights, A part is destined to have a greater infrastructure and thus enhance the commercial value. Unfortunately, in national football, everyone is responsible for generating their own remodeling or construction of new stadiums.
Another reason that kept Liga MX from an elite level was timeshare. In English football, the 20 shareholders of the league are the same 20 owners of the participating clubs, something that might be compared to the Owners Assembly but actually it is totally different. Decision-making by voting in England is balanced, with only one vote per team. In Mexico there are groups like Orlegi and Pachuca that have more than one team and therefore have more weight in decision-making.
One of Parry’s proposals at the time was have a totally independent league that it had its own President and Executive Director and only watch over the interests of the competition. Despite the fact that in 2012 Liga MX was reborn as an independent body, the Mexican Soccer Federation itself did not let it go completely, as it is a totally profitable business. The Premier League, being an independent league, has no interference within the National Team, they do not elect coaches, Selection Directors, or General Secretaries of their own federation, as the Mexican owners do.
“Independence guarantees success because when we changed the structure of the Premier League, old models were left behind. I think this is a wise decision, I don’t know when it will be successful, but the change is very good to try to modify something that works halfway”, said Parry in 2010 following the meeting with Femexfut.
The basic forces were also another topic to be discussed, since it would be necessary to eliminate the Gentlemen’s Pact that it only served to end the career of soccer players who gave managers a hard time and that did not even exist in other countries. In addition to that, In England, academies are managed for all the teams throughout the country to be able to develop talents and an amount of millions is allocated to them for their maintenance and growth. The Mexican league invests less and less in its basic forces and if a debut is made and the soccer player stays in rhythm for at least a year, they won the lottery.
Parry’s experience indicated that Mexican soccer might increase its quality as long as the will to do so was had. “The commitment to create a strong league has to come from the biggest clubs in the country, but without the intention of winning more, but rather of balancing forces”said in an interview for Excelsior in 2012.
In response to this, the owners presented the well-known Liga MX. The competition format changed and everything would be qualified by a general table, the Cup tournament returned and promotions and relegations would continue to be taken into account through the quotient table. They were the only modifications at that time to “improve”.
Since 2012, Liga MX has had various “adjustments”. the mexican teams they stopped participating in Copa Libertadores, the Copa MX tournament disappeared for 2020 and he put aside the idea of being able to have scenarios to debut soccer players from the basic forces. Promotion and relegation were momentarily eradicated, which made the second division, now known as the Expansion League, meaningless. The hegemony that was in the Concachampions was lost and there is more pressure because the MLS does not surpass the MX League.
As if that were not enough, the rule that had been implemented in 2017 where the participation of players under 20 years of age had to reach a total of minutes disappeared three years later, because for some technicians it was only “advance processes” and comply with compliance with the necessary minutes. In addition to the fact that the number of foreigners per team has not been reduced considerably.
10 years following the arrival of Liga MX, Mexican soccer has gone down. At present, according to International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), The Mexican championship occupies the 28th position in the world league ranking.
