La Liga's situation however, is entirely different. Football (unlike American Football) is a global phenomenon, and Spanish football can currently be watched in over 96 countries. Real Madrid & Barcelona are two of the most successful clubs in world football, and the El Clasico is a popular fixture on the US sporting calendar.

The Spanish league experienced a 20% growth in broadcast revenue in the 2016/17 season, following on from 26% growth in the 2015/16 season.

The implementation of collective broadcasting rights sales in 2015 has seen La Liga revenues increase to a record €2.9 billion in 2016/17 (Deloitte 2018). With this increase, La Liga has since overtaken the Bundesliga to become the second highest revenue-generating league in the world this year.

La Liga's adoption of the collective sales approach was designed to close the substantial revenue gap between the biggest clubs in Spain (Real, Barca & Athletico) and smaller clubs by ensuring a fairer distribution of rights sales.

On the back of the Spanish league's increased broadcast revenues, La Liga has publicly stated its desire to close the revenue gap to the Premier League, which brought in €5.3 billion in 2016/17 - 61% of which was broadcasting revenue. Right now NBC pay the Premier League just over €1 billion to broadcast matches in the US over a 6 year period.

And this is exactly why I think La Liga are proposing to play regular season games in the US - to increase the popularity of the league's smaller clubs, and increase La Liga's exposure in the United States, in preparation for their next round of international broadcast rights sales, which will begin in 2019.

US Broadcasting Rights & Exported Fixtures

Right now La Liga is aired in the United States by beIN Sports, which is offered on 9 of the largest 10 cable/satellite TV providers.

Their current broadcasting agreement with La Liga expires in 2019, at which time any US network or tech company could effectively bid for the exclusive rights to broadcast or stream La Liga matches in the US.

In my mind, the main idea behind exporting these fixtures is to promote lesser known clubs within La Liga in a growing international football market, and further establish a loyal fan base for Spanish football in the United States. In theory, this will eventually translate into increased media rights & commercial sponsorship revenues for La Liga & the top flight Spanish clubs involved.