Liga MX side Pachuca were eliminated in the round of 32 in the 2023 Leagues Cup against MLS’ Houston Dynamo, and their club president – Jesus Martinez – voiced his concerns about the benefit of Mexican clubs playing in the competition.
The 2023 Leagues Cup has been full of end-to-end action and countless penalty shootouts that only add to the excitement. All 47 clubs between MLS and Liga MX started the campaign, and now there are only a handful sides remaining in the tournament.
One element that has drawn a lot of attention from the Mexican media is the fact that these games have been held only in the United States and Canada, meaning that the Liga MX clubs have travelled all across the country in a short amount of time and are losing out on revenue from playing games at their stadiums.
Martinez fails to see the point of his team playing in the competition, especially as after Liga MX clubs became accustomed to playing in the Copa Libertadores from 1998 to 2016.
“It’s not the business they say it is. It’s better for me to return to the [Copa] Libertadores,” Martinez said to ESPN’s Futbol Picante.
The Pachuca executive explained Liga MX sides haven’t experience a huge financial gain like many have speculated.
“First, because of sporting matters, and second, I’m just going to give you an example: We would have to play 10 Leagues Cup matches, for one Libertadores match,” he said.
“Don’t confuse people, right now that’s not the business. It’s a project that’s there so that tomorrow it can be a great commercial and sporting project,” Martinez said of the first year competition.
“It’s a start and every start is difficult.”
In the future Leagues Cups to come, many fans would like to see the tournament be brought to Mexico in some capacity to level the playing field from a home field advantage perspective.
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