La Liga considering games in USA and China to boost global appeal and take on the Premier League

After playing the first-ever overseas clásico in Miami this pre-season, Javier Tebas is keen to continue growing his league by taking the steps that Premier League clubs weren't willing to take

Tebas admitted his support for the far-right party who are looking to scrap domestic violence laws (Getty)

La Liga are ready to take league games overseas, hosting them in China and the United States, in a bid to try and fight back against the Premier League's financial dominance.

The president of the Spanish top flight, Javier Tebas, witnessed the immense success of the pre-season clásico in Miami back in July and envisions a future of packed-out stadiums in China, the US and beyond for La Liga matches.

“La Liga is global entertainment and we want to grow the international appeal of La Liga,” said Tebas. “As part of that effort we are discussing the option of playing some of the league matches outside of Spain. These discussions are still in early stages, but as La Liga, we support the idea.”

Such a plan is reminiscent of the Premier League's ill-fated '39th game' idea that fell flat in 2008 amid widespread opposition.

But while the Premier League (2016 revenue: £4.5bn) has gone from strength to strength in the intervening years, with its television revenues spiralling, La Liga (2016 revenue: £2.2bn) still lags behind their English counterparts.

With the Spanish league now feeling vulnerable amid Paris Saint-Germain's emergence as a genuine European power and Italy's Serie A promising to return to relevance, there is a fear that Spain's top flight could begin to struggle for visibility.

While the Italians have stolen a march on La Liga in some respects by hosting the Italian Super Cup in Beijing, taking regular league games abroad would be a significant step and would represent a groundbreaking if potentially unpopular move by the Spanish top flight.

The nearest parallel in elite sport would be the NFL's success in bringing regular season games to London. This year there will be another four games in the UK and the league's metrics show great improvements in engagement and commercial appeal since setting their foot on English soil.

But the NFL is a single-market sport trying to grow its global appeal. La Liga, meanwhile, is already an immensely popular league in Latin America and across the globe. Tebas could fairly be criticised for not first looking to address poor attendances at home before trying to fill overseas stadia, but this is a decision transparently taken with a different market in mind. The idea is not to be big in Badajoz, but Beijing. To prioritize Pasadena over Pamplona.

And whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, La Liga might be the first league to take this step but they won't be the last.