Liga MX closes door on pro/rel for good

The debate over promotion and relegation in Mexico has reached a point of no return. Liga MX, the country's top men's division, is currently operating without the mechanism, and the league's decision-makers do not plan on bringing it back.

Mexico first suspended pro/rel in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as an extreme cost-saving measure. Since then, proponents for its elimination — including Mexico Football Federation (FMF) officials and Liga MX's wealthy owners — have quietly grown, while the voices of those who want to bring it back have intensified.

A toxic fight through the courts

The fight for pro/rel in Mexico is a toxic debate that has included lawsuits and appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In May 2025, 10 Liga Expansión clubs — Mexico's second division — filed a claim against the FMF and Liga MX with CAS, demanding the return of pro/rel. CAS rejected that appeal but recommended that Liga MX and FMF consider its reinstatement for Liga MX's 2026-27 season.

The 10-team lawsuit was then reduced to six, as lawyers for those clubs accused the FMF and Liga MX of retaliation. As court documents and legal fees continued to accumulate, Liga MX moved ahead with a plan to restructure Mexican football and close the door on pro/rel, first introduced in Mexico in the early 1950s.

A 'new sporting model' unveiled

On Thursday, Liga MX president Francisco Iturbe and FMF president Ivar Sisniega unveiled a 'new sporting model' as part of a long-term transformation of Liga MX and Mexican football as a whole. It includes a separation of powers that will leave league decisions in the hands of a committee of 18 Liga MX owners — in theory limiting the FMF's influence on domestic football.

According to Iturbe, the transformation will focus on improving the Liga MX product through increased investment to strengthen Mexican clubs' infrastructure. Better management of the league's assets was also mentioned as a priority.

The nearly seven-minute video highlighted a plan that some Liga Expansión officials and most pundits and fans in Mexico deemed disingenuous. Giovanni Solazzi, president of Liga Expansión side Cancún FC — owned by U.S.-based Blue Crow Sports Group — discussed his frustrations on ESPN Mexico on Thursday night. 'A system has been created to kill off the Liga Expansión clubs,' he said. 'There are owners in Liga Expansión who have a lot of money and are investing in their clubs. We had meetings with the FMF every month, but a few days ago they notified us that promotion and relegation were no longer up for negotiation.'

An Americanization of Mexican football

One major problem is that some Liga Expansión owners view their teams as first division-worthy clubs, while Liga MX has another plan for the league. Some Expansión owners are willing to spend on players and upgrade their facilities, aiming to earn promotion by winning the Expansión league title. But Liga MX has a fundamentally different idea for its second division.

'Our position is that we consider that league a very important development league,' said Mikel Arriola, FMF's commissioner and the previous president of Liga MX and Liga Expansión. 'We have under-23 players there, and two (Liga MX) affiliate teams in Guadalajara and Cruz Azul. We're going to keep investing in the league, and we're also going to keep promoting the teams.'

The MLS expansion model is one avenue officials are contemplating. In fact, Iturbe referred to the new structure as 'a franchise-driven model' in an interview with TUDN on Thursday. If Liga Expansión teams want to move up to Liga MX, they can buy their way in, as Atlante did recently. Atlante is a recognizable Liga MX club but hasn't played in the first division since being relegated in 2014. Despite winning three Liga Expansión titles, Atlante remained in the second division until its owners purchased Mazatlán FC's Liga MX franchise rights to join for the 2026 season.

Comparing Mexico to MLS: a football taboo

For Mexican football to model itself after MLS borders on cultural sacrilege among traditionalists. Mexicans believe 100 years of football should always outweigh the new-money appeal of the U.S. Yet MLS club valuations keep skyrocketing, and new stadiums and modern training installations litter the U.S. landscape. Meanwhile, implementing pro/rel in MLS has never been more far-fetched.

New MLS commissioner Larry Berg told reporters earlier this month that the jeopardy from pro/rel is 'quite severe.' 'I can understand the appeal for the fans, (but) I don't think it's a great way to build a league. I don't think it's a way to get stadiums built, get training facilities built, and to have owners invest in rosters and all the other things you need to do,' Berg said.

Berg is a co-founder of MLS side LAFC. Before that, he was a senior partner at private equity firm Apollo Global Management, a company whose deal to invest $1.2 billion in Liga MX in 2024 collapsed virtually overnight. Liga MX has since moved on.

A battle over culture and profit

The reality is that owners no longer want to face the financial loss that comes with relegation. Mexico's football ecosystem, which includes lower-division and amateur leagues, is not as robust as England's Championship or France's Ligue 2. Pro/rel is not a one-size-fits-all operating plan. What is happening in Mexico right now is as much about net profit and loss as it is about culture.

Philosophically, eliminating pro/rel in Mexico is akin to turning one's back on what has historically defined Mexican football: meritocracy. To establish grounds for promotion inside a boardroom and not on the pitch is a line in the sand that Mexicans cannot stomach. One popular opinion is that without pro/rel, teams and organizations cannot be held accountable for finishing last — in other words, a closed system lowers a league's standards for financial gain.

However, while fans want to be part of a do-or-die sporting system, Liga MX officials and owners want financial stability. Fans may be willing to accept the public shame and exorbitant financial loss that comes with relegation, but the owners paying the bills are looking for alternatives. And they're willing to spend.

One Liga MX owner, who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, told The Athletic he believes a more modern version of pro/rel could exist one day. The traditional format causes pushback from owners. 'We've looked at almost 300 teams around the world,' he said. 'The business of many of these teams in leagues with relegation is horrible. Media revenue gets hit. You have players on salaries that are tied to your current business before relegation.'

He added that part of the Apollo deal that fell through included expanding Liga MX to 22 clubs (it currently has 18), with the four additional clubs coming from Liga Expansión and purchasing expansion licenses to move up. According to the source, several Liga MX owners have had private conversations proposing that Liga MX — and its 18 owners — buy the four Liga Expansión clubs that meet the first-division criteria. As for the American business model being adopted? 'I think the majority of owners see the infrastructure that's been built in MLS, and the valuations, and say that's a good business move,' the source said.