Can you imagine watching some of the best MLS teams making it all the way to Estadio Azteca to face top Liga MX teams such as América and Cruz Azul on a regular basis? Well, with the creation of a new North American super league, it could happen.
Word on the street suggests that both leagues would be interested in a merger, mainly because MLS clubs would benefit from the exposure generated by this league, while Liga MX sides would bring top-caliber football to all those Mexican and Latin workers currently living in the United States. Now, Santos and Atlas' owner Alejandro Irarragorri has opened up about such possibility.
Speaking in an interview with ESPN, Irarragorri revealed some of the reasons why Liga MX would be on the winning side of such a merger after eliminating relegation and promotion for the next five years.
"A high percentage of Mexican football's income comes from the USA. Their league [MLS] has been growing in an ordered, slow, but consistent way in all senses: commercially, infrastructure, financial structure, diffusion and on the field," Irarragorri said.
The rumor about merging the Liga MX and the Major League Soccer is not new, but this is the first time in which a team owner has stepped up to discuss the matter. Speaking of which, Irarragorri added that both leagues would grow even stronger if they started to work together.
"It's probable that the possible creation of a North American super league is best for MLS in the short term and for Liga MX in the medium term, but over the long term it is best for both and the potential to add value and create jobs is immense. Without doubt it is an alternative that should be explored and analyzed," the exec stated.
Irarragorri is widely regarded as one of the most successful and influential owners of the Mexican league. He joined Santos Laguna in 2006 to save the team from relegation. Irarragorri's term as Santos' main man ended in 2019, not before he led the team to four Liga MX titles, the last one of them taking place in the Clausura 2018 tournament. He became president of Grupo Orlegi Deportes in 2013, a company that manages Santos, Tampico Madero (from the Ascenso MX league), and Atlas.
FIFA has openly disagreed with the creation of said "super leagues" in the past, but given the commercial relationship between these leagues, the fact that both countries will host the 2026 World Cup (along with Canada), and the effect it would have on the development of the sport in both countries, it is safe to say that a North American Super League could be a great option. Only time will tell if football's governing body allows something like that to take place.
