"The whole pandemic thing was a sham; they always knew they were going to permanently shut down promotion and relegation." That's Alberto Castellanos, president of second-division club U de G Leones Negros — and after watching Liga MX owners officially erase pro/rel from the rulebook this year with zero explanation, it's hard to argue with him.
What started as a temporary Covid-era suspension in April 2020 has quietly become a permanent closed shop. The promised five-year reinstatement deadline came and went. No promotion. No relegation. No explanation. Just silence from the Federation and Liga MX — who, when invited to address Mexico's Senate on Tuesday, declined to show up.
Senators step in where the Federation won't
Senator Clemente Castañeda of the Movimiento Ciudadano party, backed by representatives including Ignacio Mier of the ruling Morena party, is pushing a legislative reform that would enshrine sporting merit as a legal obligation for national sports associations. The goal: make promotion and relegation a matter of law, not something club owners can vote away when it suits them.
"When they closed off the possibility of promotion, they didn't just change a sporting rule; they also restricted a path for players, staff, and sports projects to grow," Castañeda said. She's right — and the damage is already visible.
Cancún FC was purchased in 2022 by an investment group that included former Houston Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, specifically on the premise that promotion would return. It didn't. "The current system fosters mediocrity; it's very sad," said club president Giovani Solazzi. That's not a disappointed investor venting. That's a warning to anyone considering putting money into Mexican football's lower divisions.
The barriers were never really about standards
Liga MX's certification requirements told the real story. Second-division clubs were expected to meet a 30,000-seat stadium capacity to even qualify for promotion — a threshold that several first-division clubs themselves don't meet. It was never a sporting framework. It was a wall.
On the pitch, players have responded the only way they could. After pro/rel was officially scrapped, some second-division matches saw players stand motionless after kick-off or pass the ball aimlessly without attacking. Clubs were sanctioned. The protests continued anyway. Spanish goalkeeper Roberto Galán, who moved to Morelia in June specifically because promotion was on the table, put it plainly: "That's why we protested and the clubs were sanctioned, but the protests will continue because we have the right to make our voices heard."
- Liga MX owners suspended pro/rel in April 2020, citing Covid-19 financial pressures
- The system was due to return in 2025 — it never did
- Liga MX then removed pro/rel entirely from official regulations this year, with no public explanation
- Mexico's National Antitrust Commission (CNA) has launched an investigation into potential monopolistic practices linked to the closed league structure
- The owner of Club América says he supports reinstatement "provided the right conditions are met"
Even the most powerful voice in Mexican club football — Club América's owner — has said he's in favour of promotion and relegation, while simultaneously pointing to the weak second division as the reason it can't happen yet. A circular argument that conveniently maintains the status quo for those already at the top.
For anyone with money on Mexican football futures or considering markets tied to Liga MX structure, the CNA antitrust investigation is the thread worth watching. Legislative pressure alone rarely moves sports federations. A legal ruling on monopolistic practices is a different kind of conversation entirely.
The Federation didn't respond to the Associated Press. They didn't show up to the Senate. They haven't explained scrapping pro/rel from the regulations. At some point, silence stops being a strategy and becomes an answer.
