Mexican football's closed-shop experiment just caught the attention of the country's competition regulators. The National Antitrust Commission (CNA) has launched a formal investigation into Liga MX over what it describes as potential monopolistic practices — and the central issue is the suspension of promotion and relegation.
The CNA didn't mince words. "After analyzing events over the past few months, the Investigative Authority determined there is sufficient evidence to formally launch an ex-officio investigation into possible monopolistic practices within the Mexican professional soccer market." Fan complaints triggered the probe, but it's been building for a while. Second-division clubs and players have been protesting for weeks, demanding the right to compete for a place in the top flight — something they lost in 2019 when the 18 first-division owners voted to suspend pro/rel for six seasons.
A system frozen in place
The owners' justification at the time was stability for lower-division clubs. What it actually created was a hermetically sealed top tier with no competitive consequence for finishing bottom of the table. No threat of going down tends to do interesting things to a club's ambition — and not in a good way. Liga MX's league odds and outright markets have been functioning in a bubble where the stakes for mid-table mediocrity are essentially zero.
The FMF agreed to restore pro/rel by 2026, but there are no active plans to actually do it. Last September, a CAS ruling appeared to clear the path for its return — and then nothing happened. No implementation details, no timeline. Just silence from the clubs who benefit most from keeping the gates shut.
The FMF's official position is that lower-tier clubs can technically earn promotion — they just have to meet strict criteria, including stadium capacity thresholds that some top-flight clubs themselves don't even clear. That's not a pathway. That's a paper door.
What the investigation could actually mean
The CNA was careful to note the probe doesn't predetermine guilt. But the penalty structure is pointed: if anti-competitive liability is established, the FMF faces fines of up to 10 percent of its annual revenue. That's a number worth paying attention to.
Several lower-division clubs took the fight to CAS last year, and another appeal was filed in August. The fact that a national antitrust body is now formally involved escalates this well beyond a football governance squabble. Mexican football's ownership class has had five years of uncontested control over who gets to play at the top level. That comfort zone now has a regulator looking directly at it.
