MLS commissioner Don Garber sends a message to Liga MX: Leagues Cup will not be held outside USA

Don Garber, MLS commissioner, has reiterated his rejection of the idea that Leagues Cup games should and could be played in Mexico in order to increase fairness, given the poor performances of Liga MX side in this year’s tournament.

The Leagues Cup turned out to be a dramatic failure for Mexican soccer, as not a single club was able to look like they were ever going to make the final of the tournament and the Major League Soccer sides thoroughly imposed their dominance over their opponents. However, there has been one complaint regarding the performances that has generated the most controversy: the fact that all the American teams were always ‘at home’ and did not have to travel to Mexico for a single game throughout the tournament.

Don Garber, MLS commissioner, spoke about the situation and clarified that he is absolutely not contemplating taking the tournament out of the United States, believing that it would not have the same economic benefit as it has had. At the same time, the American clarified that he is not interested in the Leagues Cup having the same format as the Concacaf Champions League.

Calls rejected for Champions League-style format

“I don’t think it should compete with the Champions Cup and I think once you start having home and away it starts to look like that. I am not sure if that’s in the best interest of the two leagues and our confederation” he said.

“I think economically, it certainly makes sense to have it here in the United States. But I think it’s a great opportunity for Liga MX clubs to be able to provide their fans who are living in the United States an opportunity to see all their teams, as opposed to two or three teams that are here summer after summer.

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Garber reminds Liga MX of commitment

So I think there’s no reason to look at moving it, but...let’s take a step back when it’s all over and just look at everything” he also added. The commissioner was also keen to stress his sense of annoyance over the complaints, and even reminded Liga MX that the Leagues Cup is also their business idea and not just Garber out to make a few extra bucks: “We worked really hard to ensure that our clubs knew that this was a tournament that was a joint venture. We jointly own this tournament (with Liga MX). So if we do things that are gonna belittle the tournament, it affects our partnership. We do things that are gonna grow the tournament, it benefits the partnership.”

It is worth mentioning that Monterrey were the only Mexican club to reach the semi-final stage of the tournament, but they lost out to Nashville SC. In the end, the worthy tournament winner was Inter Miami and Lionel Messi, who, in the MLS standings, are one of the worst teams in the competition, although things looks like they are about to change.

Could European clubs play in Leagues Cup?

Here, Garber was not as closed as he was when talking about allowing Mexican teams to play games at home, saying “the rest of the world has every opportunity to build their business here in the United States but the investors in Major League Soccer have put billions and billions of dollars into building this market and they should be able to think about ways to capitalise on that investment. Are there ways for us to be thinking about expanding the (Leagues Cup) idea? Sure, but I’ll be clear that we have had no formal discussions about that.”