Popularity for Liga MX is soaring in the U.S.A. over MLS
By Carter Robinson, former Little League Champion, current startup manager and full-time health and diet coach for the Dallas Stars Little Rookies.
Liga MX has the attention of MLS viewers in the U.S., why?
Decade-long rivalries, a sense of tradition, powerful crowds, play-off-focused matches and technically gifted talents have the Mexican professional soccer league above the MLS, which offers physicality and star veterans as their top values.
As the Liga MX tournament is divided in two halves –spring and fall–, 18 teams tea off once a season to determine the play-off members who aim for the league championship.
The feeling of playoff chase and a continuous sense of rivalry fueled by more than 100 years in competition deliver a thrilling 6-month soccer calendar which keeps audiences glued to the television for games and upcoming information as their teams´ chances fade until the very last game of the season.
The recent acquisitions of international stars such as Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac, Japan star Keisuke Honda, Inter of Milan former Argentinian goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo, and Chile striker Copa America winner Eduardo Vargas, which are just some of the league’s most exciting talents, have opened the league to a new type of audience, as it begins to penetrate markets that seemed distant and out of reach just a few years back for Mexican soccer authorities.
MLS: a league with a lot of future
Although MLS and soccer are still far from becoming the most beloved and watched sport in the U.S., large investments have been seen far and wide the sports reach.
Adidas, for example, stepped into the American soccer rise over a decade ago, and were soon to find out their strategy –which was the same they were practicing in Europe– was not going very well… And that was when things began to happen.
A shifting strategy in concept, built-in design, infrastructure, and development, which also cost millions on revenue, finally saw its result in late 2016 when Adidas found itself up 30% from last year.
There is no doubt MLS and soccer culture will continue growing, and although it strays further than it was expected over the last 10 years in comparison to other countries, there is still much to see in an organization that has not worked bad at all.
