LaLiga will 'try again' to play league game in U.S., says Tebas - ESPN

LONDON — The Spanish soccer league wants to resurrect plans to stage a regular-season game in the United States.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas said Thursday that he was not giving up on taking a top Spanish match abroad after controversial plans to play outside Miami last year were scrapped in the face of pushback from clubs, players and fans.

«We are going to try again. I'm not sure when. We have to bring it up at the right time,» Tebas told a news conference in London.

— Why was LaLiga's Barcelona-Villarreal game in Miami canceled?

Barcelona and Villarreal were slated to play at the Miami Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium on Dec. 20, which would have made Spain the first major European league to move a regular-season match abroad. But those plans fell through in October as opposition grew, with some claiming it impacted the fairness of the competition by moving a game overseas.

«I don't think it will cause damage,» Tebas said Thursday when attending the Financial Times Business of Football Summit. «We are talking about one match out of 380 in a season.»

Tebas is seeking to emulate the model of the NFL, which last season staged games in London, Berlin, Dublin, Madrid and Sao Paulo. The NBA also plays games overseas.

He said European soccer's big leagues had benefited from fans all over the world, with broadcast rights sold for billions of dollars globally. Tebas said taking a game abroad was a sign of respect, as well as an opportunity to promote, much like U.S. sports have done in recent years.

«We celebrate Halloween, which we never celebrated 20 years ago. We have NFL games. We have NBA games,» Tebas said. «Let's see if 50 years from now we'll have the stadiums empty, and the ones for the NBA and the NFL full. Because