Liga MX and the Paper Trying to Pry Open the Trapdoor

On September 23, at Mexico's Senate, a bill was presented. No cheering, no banners. Just ten signatures from ten senators spanning every parliamentary group, and one brief text: amend Articles 50 and 46 of Mexico's General Law of Physical Culture and Sport. Read plainly, it is as dry as any legal document. But tucked inside is a bullet aimed straight at the heart of Liga MX: it would force Mexican football to reopen promotion and relegation, frozen since 2026.

Five years. A league with nobody going down, nobody going up. For a 64-year-old like me, someone who has lived through enough football cycles to know that anything locked shut long enough eventually gets pried open, this paper is no small thing. It is the first time federal law has reached into the private structure of a professional football league. When grey hair speaks about football, do not rush to cover your ears — the fire is still red.

Context: from Ascenso MX to Liga de Expansión

To understand why this bill exists, go back to 2026. Mid-pandemic, Liga MX and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) announced a freeze on relegation. Ascenso MX — the old second division — was dissolved and replaced by Liga de Expansión MX, a league where clubs still play, still spend, but have no path upward. The stated reason looked sensible on paper: second-division clubs lacked the financial base to carry top-flight costs.

It sounded convincing. But it turned Mexico's second tier into a place where people still train, still dream, and never rise. That "financial sustainability" argument is very familiar. In Asia we have seen leagues close for identical reasons. And the result is always the same: big clubs at ease, small clubs withering, fans slowly forgetting the terror of standing near the drop line at season's end.

Article 50, Article 46, and the principle of sporting merit

The bill arrives exactly there, and it runs on two very concrete legal levers.

The first lever is Article 50. Today this provision lists the mandatory principles of a sports association: democracy, representativeness, equity, legality, transparency, accountability. The bill would add a new principle to that list: mérito deportivo — sporting merit. A club's right to promotion must be earned on the field, not granted by invitation, ownership, or financial criteria.

The second lever is Article 46, subsection IV. The bill obliges associations to establish a competition mechanism guaranteeing promotion and relegation, "without exception." Two guardrails come with it: the mechanism must be objective, clear, transparent and public; and it cannot be modified mid-term until the season concludes. This strikes directly at the age-old habit of club owners: changing the rules just before a season ends to save a favourite son.

And there is a scarier clause still: a ban on any "unjustified access barriers" and any "permanent advantages." Those two words — permanent advantages — are a death sentence for the model Liga MX giants have enjoyed for five years. It names outright what a closed league breeds: rent on a position.

But this is only paper

Here I must say what young reporters often miss. This bill is not law. It has only been presented and referred to committees. The road from "presented" to "in force" is a long corridor full of legal traps, amendments and delays. If fans read "the Senate presented a bill" and think relegation returns next season, they are fooling themselves.

And here is what frightens me most — the gap neither side wants to look at directly. The bill forces promotion but offers no financial mechanism to support a newly promoted club. That is precisely the reason used in 2026 to shut the door. Pry the door open without placing a cushion beneath, and the promoted club falls straight into the abyss — this time the abyss of the top flight, where every number multiplies fourfold. The ball rolls easily; paying wages is hard.

Moreover, the source material on this bill names almost no origin. No outlet, no document number. The list of ten signatures is unpublished. That is why I keep a question mark over every figure, even after 48 years of watching matches, having learned that an anonymous signature is rarely a signature of conviction.

Is Senator Clemente Castañeda sincere?

The public sponsor of the bill is Senator Clemente Castañeda of Movimiento Ciudadano. He has pledged to pursue the issue to the end. But football in Mexico is religion, and in such a country, climbing onto the podium to defend the fans always carries electoral value. I am not saying he is fake. I am saying a bill signed by ten senators from all parties is both a sign of broad support and a sign that nobody wants to be the lone villain. When everyone stands on one side, watch who pays the bill.

So what happens next?

In the scenario I consider most likely, the bill clears committee with amendments: a timeline, a transition phase, phased financial certification. Relegation returns, but not next season. The "soft landing" owners always negotiate when they cannot block the road. The frightening scenario: the bill dies in committee, and the door stays shut for another cycle.

Young people look at Transfermarkt; I look at a player's eyes as he walks out. In Mexico right now, look into the eyes of the lads playing in Liga de Expansión. Those eyes are not about money. They are about a road with no way up. This bill, whatever its fate, has forced an entire football nation to ask itself: if nobody can climb, what is the ladder even for?

And fifteen pandemic-era Zoom calls taught me that football needs no stadium, only people watching together. But a league needs more than that. It needs the feeling that every goal still matters, that tomorrow can still be different from today.