In an exclusive conversation with ESPN Digital, Mikel Arriola believed that a unified competition would mean having one of the best competitions in the world.
MEXICO – The president of the Liga MX Mikel Arriola, supported the words of the president of the FIFA Giani Infantino, Which assured that a merger between the Mexican Championship and the MLS would result in the best tournament in the world, and pointed out that this merger would pay off a $ 1.5 billion company
“Yes, that is already being talked about on both sides, it is recognized that there is a possibility to change the size of the two leagues in volume, measures, If you add the Liga MX and the MLS, we are talking about being worth $ 1.5 billion, we would be at other levels, ”said the president of the Liga MX Mikel Arriola, in an exclusive interview with ESPN Digital
The project of the merger between the Mexican tournament and the United States is expected to be consolidated in 2026, just in the year that Mexico and the land of the Stars and Stripes, as well as Canada, serve as the organizers of the World Cup. The union would catapult both tournaments above the league of Spain and Italy.
“It’s going to be a process of permanent growth and 2026 should be a year of maturing, or having measurable effects, of which the next five years have been used, let’s say 2026 will be a climax,” he says. said. Mikel Arriola
In U.S, there is an audience of 60 million people who use the Liga MX and has a purchasing power seven times that of Mexican fans, which would make it possible for local clubs to have figures like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the future.
‘I didn’t say it, I said it Infantino we would be at the level of the best leagues in the worldDreaming that the next step is to get here or in the U.S to the Messi, to Cristiano Ronaldo, maybe in the final stages of their career, imagine if Messi could come and play here in Miami or from a club from here to bring him to the United States, which is why I think Infantino was so accurate in that statement, “added.
According to Mikel Arriola: “Each of the 18 teams in the Liga MX have followers in every city of the U.SAnd enabling the project would help “close the economic divide created by the pandemic,” in addition, it would extend to the Liga MX Women But the League MX expansion
“It is very encouraging that at the level of the president of FIFA He attaches so much importance to the two competitions, also that there is a greater rapprochement between the two tournaments. Taking into account the unique phenomenon of football in the world, it is good that the FIFA President identifies it, the fact that a local football is consumed in another country of the size of the United States. There are not few countries, regions where football is consumed in those orders of magnitude, in those growth rates, and in those dimensions. It is encouraging that President Infantino has analyzed it ”.