Mexico's Antitrust Watchdog Opens Investigation Into Liga MX Over Monopolistic Practices

A case file with a number and a name attached: IO-001-2026. That's how the investigation was logged after Mexico's National Antimonopoly Commission (CNA) opened proceedings on its own initiative against Mexican soccer, a move that threatens to shake up the structure of the sport's business in the country at a moment when Liga MX was already dragging along controversies over decisions many fans consider detached from sporting logic.

The elimination of promotion and relegation was, according to documents reviewed by ESPN, one of the triggers that led the authority to scrutinize the "market for affiliation, organization and access to federated professional soccer competitions in Mexico, as well as similar or related services." Put that way, in the technical language of an official notice, it sounds distant. Translated: the CNA wants to know whether the way Mexican soccer is organized benefits a select few while harming everyone else in the system, from clubs to fans.

The body itself was clear in its reasoning. In a report released after the announcement, the Commission explained that, "after analyzing the events that have occurred in recent months, the Investigating Authority determined that it has sufficient evidence to formally open an ex officio investigation into possible monopolistic practices in the professional soccer market in Mexico."

This isn't the first time

Anyone familiar with the subject knows this had already happened before. In 2021, the then Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece), predecessor to the current CNA, fined every Liga MX club over the so-called "gentlemen's pact" and over the salary cap applied in the Liga Femenil. That case had already made clear that the relationship between team owners and competition rules didn't always go hand in hand. Now, under a different name and a different acronym, the regulatory body is once again setting its sights on the same ground.

The official document specifies that opening the case was not a rushed decision but the result of close monitoring of various practices. "In particular, the Investigating Authority decided to launch this investigation after closely tracking events and conduct that could constitute relative monopolistic practices, meaning conduct involving abuse of market power that could be affecting the soccer market in the country," the report states.

What's at stake for the clubs and the federation?

Here's the part that really hits where it hurts, the wallet: if the investigation ultimately determines that the Mexican Football Federation or the clubs engaged in monopolistic practices, the penalty could reach up to 10 percent of their annual revenue. And that's not all: beyond the fine, they would also be required to correct the practice in question, which in practice could mean structural changes to how the tournament is organized.

Will this investigation be enough to reverse decisions like the elimination of promotion and relegation? It's still too early to say. What is clear is that Mexican soccer is once again under the watch of a body that already showed, a few years back, that it's willing to go as far as fines when it detects that the rules of the game are no longer even for everyone.