Will Serie A games be played in the US in the future?

UEFA recently “reluctantly” gave permission for both a La Liga game between Villarreal and Barcelona and a Serie A meeting of Como and Milan to be played overseas. The Spanish game was to be played in Miami, Florida, where local fans would have eagerly snapped up tickets once they went on sale.

The pre-sale process had actually already begun, but 24 hours before the tickets were put on sale, the promoter cancelled the event. Although it said that there was not enough time to properly organise the game, there had been fan protests and player action against a league match being played overseas in the weeks since it was first announced.

At the moment, the Serie A game between Milan and Como, set to be played in Perth, Australia in February, is still going ahead. Although the circumstances are slightly different, with Milan having to vacate the San Siro because of the Winter Olympics, there has also been opposition to this decision. One of the criticisms argues that these games set a precedent and that they will inevitably lead to more games being staged overseas in the years to come.

Even though the domestic league in the US, Major League Soccer, is growing in stature and reputation, with betting on MLS games increasing worldwide, it seems only natural that there will be a call for Serie A teams to play competitive fixtures on American soil in the near future. But could that really happen?

Although there is a deep and storied history with Serie A and La Liga, the clubs and leagues are playing catch-up when it comes to the money that can be generated compared to England’s Premier League. The EPL has also floated the idea in the past of an extra “39th game” being played overseas, but fans demonstrated against such a move, and the authorities have been very quiet about any future plans since. Italian officials have shown far more interest in such a proposition, however.

Only in March of this year, it was reported that Serie A’s commercial and marketing director, Michael Ciccarese, had confirmed that it wanted to be the first foreign league to stage a regular season game in the US. In the end, La Liga looked like it had beaten Serie A to the punch, but now the field is wide open again. The Italian league is desperate to expand its brand in the US and take its own slice of the market, currently dominated by the EPL, and to a lesser extent, La Liga.

Serie A has a headquarters in New York and has been trying to organise a game in the US ever since a lawsuit brought by an American sports promotions company arguing against such an event was dropped last year. FIFA has now rescinded the rule that domestic league games cannot be played outside of a country’s borders, and UEFA stated that it was unable to stop such fixtures occurring, even though it gave permission for the Milan vs. Como game reluctantly.

The positives for the clubs involved – and Serie A as a whole – in playing a game in the US are obvious. It would be an ideal opportunity to grow brand awareness and boost merchandise sales. There would also be the chance to improve the broadcasting deals in the US and beyond. All of that would bring more money into the Italian game and make the clubs more competitive in European competition. But there are also many downsides to overseas games, and fan groups and the players themselves have been some of the most vocal in their opposition.

Regarding the game set to be played in Australia, both Adrien Rabiot and Mike Maignan criticised the plans, arguing that the promoters and supporters of the move were only thinking about money and not the players’ health. Como fans have also been against the idea, accusing their chairman of ignoring the traditional supporters who had stood by the club as it has climbed back up the league pyramid over the last few years. There is also the point that the Milan fans who get behind their side every week of the season have not been considered, while the financial aspects of the deal have been pushed to the fore.

If the Serie A game goes ahead in Australia in February, it is only natural to assume that the league will push for more games to be staged overseas. The US would be the obvious next choice, and it will be interesting to see how much UEFA will push back on the idea outside of an Olympics. With the monetisation of football growing all the time, it has started to seem inevitable that the never-ending hunt for greater profits will trump the wants and needs of the millions of supporters who actually go to watch their teams play week in, week out. The identities forged through tradition – and happily used as marketing ploys by many clubs and leagues – could disappear if more games are scheduled overseas.

Almost every Serie A fan would dearly love for the Italian game to be as respected and admired as it was in the 1990s. But selling its soul to boost the league as a brand is surely not the way to go. Regular-season Serie A games staged in the US might seem like an inevitable future for the fans, but the recent developments with La Liga should act as a reminder that this move to hyper-commercialisation is not a done deal.