La Liga match to be played in USA

[MikeH72]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...ts-january-27-hard-rock-stadium-a8522951.html

Girona vs Barcelona set to be first La Liga game to be played in USA next January with fans offered free flights

The game will be played in Miami on January 27 and 1,500 Girona fans will be flown across the Atlantic for free or given up to 40% refunds on their season tickets

When Spain's top flight goes global with its first game overseas it will be two sides from Catalonia, Girona and FC Barcelona, who face off on American soil.
Local newspapers in the autonomous region have reported that the game is confirmed for Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on January 27.


Girona season ticket holders will be offered a number of options to compensate them for missing a home game that they have already paid for, including free flights for 1,500 supporters to attend the fixture in Miami and free hotels for an overnight stay. Both the flights and hotels must be secured by refundable deposits.



Fans who don't wish to make the trip the Florida will instead be offered one of 5,000 tickets to the reverse fixture at the Nou Camp in September as well as a 20% refund on their season ticket.


Those who neither wish to travel to Miami nor Barcelona will have 40% of their season ticket price refunded, a significant amount of compensation but one that reflects the fact many fans buy a year-long ticket to guarantee entry to the home games against Barca and Real Madrid.
According to Barcelona-based newspaper Sport, Girona are set to make around €4m by offering up a home fixture for La Liga's first overseas game, while the league itself hopes to ensnare long-term sponsors and fans as part of a growing presence Stateside.
Girona are now owned by the City Football Group - who own Manchester City - after they purchased a 44.3% stake in Girona in August 2017. Another 44.3% of the club is owned by a group led by Pep Guardiola's brother, Pere, but the Premier League recently reaffirmed that it was not looking to follow La Liga in taking regular season games abroad.

 

[MikeH72]

Hopefully Girona send the kids over and make this the farce it deserves to be.

 

[FCBarça]

This is not official yet, a number of hurdles need to be cleared - not the least of which is the player's association (AFE) which as threatened a strike much less the media rights involved with different entities.

Interesting that Tebas opted for a Catalan derby in the Mecca of Latin America, could backfire and give much more attention to Catalunya than promote the Primera

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Hopefully Girona send the kids over and make this the farce it deserves to be.

I doubt it

I bet they wanted to be selected for this

 

[wandyr79]

A ridiculous idea and rightly objected to by the players and (hopefully, haven't seen any official protests, etc.) fans.

Hopefully it is a farce and we can get back to normality.

 

[Brendan Janus]

Top stadium to be fair !

 

[Seathestars]

Where will it stop.

 

[BainesontoastNEW]

40,000 Spanish flags set to be handed out for this game which is considered a Catalan derby. Oh, and the US national anthem will be played too

 

[FCBarça]

Apparently Tebas et al intend to prohibit Senyera flags or anything politically symbolic of Catalunya.

 

[wandyr79]

40,000 Spanish flags set to be handed out for this game which is considered a Catalan derby. Oh, and the US national anthem will be played too

An absolute joke.

La Liga have confirmed they are subsidising all fans and are surely paying the clubs a lot of money to keep the players in line and costs of going over, etc. They are surely going to lose out financially (how many 'extra' fans will they gain by this stunt) and they are already losing face by even coming up with the idea.

 

[Connor]

La Liga’s attempt at whitewashing the Catalan independence movement will undoubtedly be met by plenty of resistance.

The idea of playing a game of such importance to a huge part of your county in a different country in a bid to ignore what is happening in your own country is utterly backwards.

 

[Khalekan]

I would love to know the sporting rationale behind playing these games in America.

Despite what they say about widening La Liga’s appeal, it is purely a money making exercise IMO.

Because I cannot see Girona v Barcelona in Miami upping the profile of soccer in the USA beyond that city.....or even in Miami itself, for no more than a few weeks leading up to the game.

I mean, has playing NFL games in London led to any great rise in interest in that sport in England?

Not as far as I can see.

It was very popular here before the Wembley games and I can see little sign of growth despite playing them there this past decade or so.

 

[Khalekan]

40,000 Spanish flags set to be handed out for this game which is considered a Catalan derby. Oh, and the US national anthem will be played too

Unbelievably crass.

I am no fan of the Catalonia separatist movement but that is just a crude attempt at insulting the people of Barcelona.

(the flags I mean....not the anthem. Though why play any anthem at all, they wouldn’t play one if the fixture was being played in Spain)

It would be like playing the Ulster GAA Final between Armagh and Derry at Wembley and handing out Union Jacks for the spectators to wave and playing GSTQ beforehand

 

[Zezti]

People say VAR will be the death of football. No, its this over commercialisation of it that will.

 

[Saint Domingo]

There’s literally no end to the greed. None. They’ll take the whole game down.