Barcelona-Atlético Madrid in Miami put on hold – sources

Plans to stage a LaLiga match in Miami have been put on hold for now, sources told ESPN, because of the time constraints involved in moving Barcelona’s game against Atlético Madrid in December.

ESPN revealed last month that the Spanish league was increasingly optimistic about taking Barça’s home league fixture with Atlético to Hard Rock Stadium.

However, various sources implicated in the project told ESPN that time has run out to move that particular game, scheduled for the weekend commencing Dec. 21, adding that plans to move a game to the United States have been temporarily “parked.”

A source at LaLiga referred the matter to Relevent Sports Group, who are working on taking a game to the U.S. in collaboration with the league, saying the North American company are leading the plans.

Relevent has not yet replied to an ESPN request for comment.

In order to move a regular-season game from Spain to the U.S., LaLiga needs the go-ahead from various other bodies, including the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), U.S. Soccer, Concacaf, UEFA and FIFA.

One of the major hurdles in terms of moving a game next month is the RFEF lacking a permanent president until elections are held Dec. 16.

Therefore, there remains uncertainty surrounding whether the interim management committee would have the power to sanction the game.

Increasing doubts is the fact the previous interim president of the RFEF, Pedro Rocha, is serving a suspension, imposed by Spain’s Administrative Sports Court (TAD), for making decisions outside of his remit.

LaLiga have been trying to move a game to Miami for several years, with prior plans to take Barça-Girona and Atlético-Villarreal to the city in 2019 falling through.

At the time, there was also opposition from FIFA, among others, but a landmark court case earlier this year changed the picture and bred belief it would be possible to play a regular-season match abroad sooner than later.

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Relevent’s antitrust lawsuit to go forward against FIFA and U.S. Soccer over the world governing body’s policy of not permitting a country to host league matches involving teams from other countries.

A LaLiga source, while not commenting specifically on Barça-Atlético, confirmed the plan is still to take a match to the U.S, as has been reiterated on several occasions by the league’s president, Javier Tebas.

Information from ESPN’s Moises Llorens and Rodrigo Faez contributed to this story.