The ultimate shame for the Football League

BarcelonaWe accept with resignation and normality the loss of everything. Well, some lose it and others sell it. Thousands of people live resigned. "It's what it is," they say. "It's the way things are, nothing can be done," they add. "It's against everything, you're the people who always say No", they respond if you question them. Whenever people with power make a controversial decision, they defend themselves like this: don't say No, accepts that it's a natural evolution. What a shame.

Now we have to accept taking La Liga matches abroad. "It's just one," they say. "It makes a lot of money," they add. "It helps promote La Liga," they argue. Does anyone really believe La Liga will attract enough viewers to have a Villarreal-Barça match played in Miami? In a country where they have top-level friendlies and major events every year? The match is held to line the pockets of whoever organizes it, nothing more. In truth, it's further proof that a number of people would sell anything for a mess of pottage. We've normalized the Super Cup being played in Saudi Arabia and that ticket prices are prohibitive for most local fans. Now they want us to normalize a La Liga match in Miami. This will be the first. And soon after, we'll have a Barça-Madrid match in Saudi Arabia or Los Angeles. The law of the market: some have the money to buy, but some sell everything.

It's the loss of dignity. A lack of respect for the members and season ticket holders who have defended your club. It's accepting that we sell out everything here: houses, apartments, hotels, natural spaces... and league games. All for money. And that's without even getting into how the competition is disrupted: two clubs make a very long trip. And a team stops playing in front of its fans. Football managers don't want fans or season ticket holders, they want spectators in front of a screen. They just want money. They tell you that in the United States they do things this way, citing the NBA and the NFL. And why do you have to do it like they do? Our football is different and that's how it has triumphed. Why copy another sport? Why do you have to accept the need to copy everything they do in the United States?

They tell you that you can't do anything, that there's no alternative. And they're lying: of course you have alternatives, but you have to be brave. You can decide not to sell out. You can have dignity and set limits. You can accept a Super Cup abroad, but shield league games. You can decide to protect your fans, like they do in Germany. There, you have full stadiums, no Super Cups abroad, no La Liga matches in Miami. You can opt for your own model. Spanish football seems to have chosen one where everything is for sale. Quite sad.