The end of an American dream: The Spanish league has to bury its US plans for the time being

Fernando Roig Negueroles could hardly believe his eyes. The Villarreal CEO first stared frozen at his phone, then began to speak excitedly. The scene seemed like something out of one of those documentaries where filmmakers are allowed to go behind the scenes, but it was taking place in public. Roig Negueroles was watching his club's Champions League match against Manchester City from the stands.

The explosive news: the cancellation of Miami as the venue for Villarreal's league match against Barça on December 20. For weeks, the Spanish league had announced the project by the US marketing agency Relevent. Its owner, Stephen M. Ross, owns both the stadium in Miami and the Miami Dolphins football team.

Two weeks ago, European football's governing body UEFA reluctantly gave its consent. Villarreal campaigned diligently and developed concepts to compensate its supporters. But eight minutes before the end of the first half against Manchester City, the Spanish top flight issued a press release: Relevent had canceled.

After Villarreal's 2-0 defeat, the timing of the cancellation not only struck coach Marcelino García Toral as "absolute disrespect for the management, players, and fans" of a club that now feels like it's been used as a guinea pig. It can also be interpreted as a symbol of the dubious indifference with which the organizers as a whole went about their business.

The Spanish league remained vague in its explanation for its reversal. "Uncertainty generated in Spain" had prompted the agency to "cancel" the event. Relevent itself referred to a "postponement" in a statement, saying that the uncertainty left insufficient time for preparation, especially for ticket sales.

Apparently, the frustrated visionaries are referring to the players' protest that led to a boycott of the first 15 seconds of all top-flight Spanish matches last weekend. And to the recent statements by Real Madrid players. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, for example, accused the league of arbitrary action at the press conference before the Champions League match against Juventus Turin: "This distorts the competition and violates the framework agreement with the players." Captain Dani Carvajal directly attacked league president Javier Tebas on social media: "This tarnishes his competition."

The opposition from these quarters was well known. Spain's players' union and some clubs had been complaining for weeks about the move to Miami, and especially about the lack of transparency with which Spanish league president Tebas had presented all players with a fait accompli.

Real Madrid had already attempted to involve the Spanish government's sports regulator when the plans became known in August and repeated this maneuver again at the beginning of the week. Most recently, the powerful club president, Florentino Pérez, reportedly used his personal relationship with Ross to persuade him to abandon the project.

Pérez is the last person who would have anything against global expansion. However, he wants to pursue it on his own terms. Pérez continues to aim for the creation of a European Super League and has been engaged in a power struggle with its fierce critic, Tebas, for years. Just days before Sunday's Clásico against FC Barcelona, ​​Pérez considers Relevent's withdrawal to be tantamount to a goal in the crossbar.

Tebas, on the other hand, pointed out in a statement that those in Real Madrid were arguing with the integrity of the competition "who have been questioning it for years by putting pressure on referees and officials, constructing distorted narratives, and using political and media pressure as a tool in sport."

Spanish football has missed a "historic opportunity" to strengthen its image and future viability, said Tebas after an evening in which Villarreal's defeats against Manchester City and Atlético Madrid's 4-0 defeat at Arsenal demonstrated the team's lag behind the financially superior Premier League.

To narrow this gap, Italy's Serie A also wants to travel abroad - the February match between Milan and Como in Perth has been confirmed so far, but is likely to come under even greater pressure after Miami's elimination.

In the Spanish case, Tebas's strong words cannot disguise the fact that the mission-conscious official is the big loser in the matter. Back in 2018, Relevent and he failed in their plan to hold a match between Girona and Barça in Miami – at the time due to a veto by the associations.

This time, he overlooked the fact that his ambition could only have been realized with the consent of all parties involved. He further damaged his reputation by attempting to suppress the players' 15-second protest from television footage over the weekend.

But the Americans at Relevent have also lost credibility. They hold the global marketing rights for the Champions League for the four-year cycle starting in 2027 for the first time and are launching optimistic forecasts for profit growth from media rights. In the Miami case, however, football owner Ross once again realized that ideas don't yet become reality in the maze of interests in European football.

On November 16, he'll be able to continue addressing the issue in person. His Miami Dolphins will play in an NFL game at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.