The Campeon de Campeones and Supercopa MX titles are one-off proceedings that have a neutral venue (this year's games were played in Carson, California) and are branded as special events. Liga MX has already gone out of its way to create championship events in their summer calendar. Speaking of special occasions, liguilla matches are clearly the centerpiece of the league experience owing to their importance in deciding the champion. sports leagues, Liga MX could honor the country with special kits for the occasion or some sort of patriotic cue before the match. Club America on Independence Day? Perhaps even taking a cue from U.S. The biggest sporting event in Mexico scheduled for the holiday weekend isn't even soccer-related: it's boxer Canelo Alvarez facing Gennady Golovkin.Ī holiday weekend would have been the perfect chance to pair up teams with rivalries. It seems a wasted opportunity, then, that the league didn't plan for this. It's a coincidence for Liga MX that this year, the Mexican Day of Independence lands smack in the middle of the Week 9 schedule. It seems foolish then that Liga MX is not taking advantage of the calendar. The NBA is busy on Christmas Day and MLB dominates the fourth of July. A rotation policy between the men's league and the women's league could also help, featuring games from both circuits in those coveted front/back spots. On the women's side, Liga MX is adopting a similar strategy by placing top games on Monday night.
Through centralized rights, companies in Mexico could rotate in and out of the Friday night slot, putting the weekend's top games in prime time and potentially swapping out a Morelia vs.
However, the quality of teams usually featured on Friday night is limited by the teams that TV Azteca is obligated to feature. The result has been a perfect way to kick off the league weekend, with one or two games starting the Liga MX slate and monopolizing the attention of fans looking to get their soccer fix. Friday night lights, or Monday night futbolįaced with dwindling ratings and increased competition from other events each weekend, TV Azteca came up with the novel idea of programming on Friday night. Here are just five ways that Liga MX can bolster its product to audiences in Mexico, the U.S. In the U.S., some measure of uniformity has been attained, with Univision and ESPN Deportes combining to cover all but one (Lobos BUAP) of the clubs involved with the league.ĭespite ratings for Liga MX routinely showing up in top 10 charts for soccer events in both Mexico and the United States, the Lobos BUAP situation is a clear indicator of the work that needs to be done to improve the league's product, including cooperative strategies to maximize ratings through event planning and stronger, more centralized coverage. With television companies in Mexico owning four of the 18 first-division clubs (Televisa owns Club America, Grupo Imagen owns Queretaro and TV Azteca owns Atlas and Morelia), it seems unlikely that the media giants will join forces to split revenue with their league partners any time soon. In 2012, when the league rebranded from the old Primera Division moniker to Liga MX in a move reminiscent of the English Premier League makeover, matches reached people in 41 countries as far-flung as the Middle East and North Africa. There is no centralized media rights package in Liga MX, a growing problem for a league that is quickly going global. Unable to secure an agreeable distribution deal on its own, the team decided to stream its most recent game on the internet, for free. The Week 8 match between the Puebla side and Morelia, however, was not on television. MEXICO CITY - Last Saturday, the vast majority of Liga MX fans got to see newly promoted Lobos BUAP live, at home, for the first time. Monday Night Fútbol? Five ways to solve Liga MX's TV problem
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