Spanish La Liga launches petition to gather support for troubled Miami game

Faced with massive opposition from sporting institutions over its plan to play a regular season game between FC Barcelona and Girona in Miami, La Liga has launched a petition.
The intention is to garner mass support for its troubled project.
The Miami match between Girona and FC Barcelona would be the first game to take place as part of a 15-year deal struck between La Liga and entertainment company Relevent.
The deal involves playing one Spanish regular-season game in the US every year.
“This national grassroots campaign will highlight the growing popularity of football in America.
“It will also highlight the desire from American fans to bring the greatest football league in the world to the US to play the first-ever European club regular season match held outside of Europe,” said a statement from La Liga.
The Spanish football federation has put the brakes on the league’s plans by demanding more information on January’s game.
The game must also be approved by the US football federation and regional bodies UEFA and CONCACAF.
The proposals were dealt a fresh blow by the president of world football’s organising body FIFA, Gianni Infantino, at a council meeting last week in Rwanda.
“Official match leagues must be played within the territory of the respective member-association”.
La Liga has stated it will take its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if FIFA formally opposes its plans.
The launch of the petition, meanwhile, is an attempt by the league and Relevent to counter the institutional opposition by showing that the project counts on grassroots support.
“La Liga is planning on bringing a regular season match to America for the first time ever — but we need your help to make this event happen,” said a statement on the website of the petition.
It added: “Some of the key decision-makers are falsely claiming it won’t be good for the game in the US.
“So we, the fans, need to fight for this match by telling them: It’s good for the fans. It’s good for the game.
“Are you in? The more support we have, the harder we’ll be to ignore.”
Stephen Ross, chairman and owner of Relevent, added that playing a Spanish top-flight game in the US would further accelerate the growth of football in the country.
Ross said: “All of America’s top sports leagues — The NBA, The NFL, and MLB — have played regular season games all over the world to reach international fans and have great success popularising these sports globally.
“We firmly believe this will have the same impact in increasing the popularity of football here in the US, with more kids playing and more fans watching.”