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By Bill Turianski on the 7th of May 2025; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Teams, etc…2024-25 Liga MX season (en.wikipedia).
-Liga MX official site (in Spanish)…ligamx.net.
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The map shows average attendance in the recently-concluded Liga MX 2025 Clausura [regular season]. The larger the fútbol club’s average attendance, the larger their circle is on the map. The circles on the map contain each Liga MX club’s crest. The reason why there are duplicates of the Club América and Cruz Azul crests at the bottom of the map, is because both these clubs are currently playing in temporary venues. So the lower circle-with-crest for both clubs shows their attendance from a year ago (2024 Clausura), and is more representative of each club’s fanbase. Club América’s attendance dropped 17.5 K (from 42.1-K-per-game), while Cruz Azul saw a 7.2-K drop (from 26.6-K-per-game).
Club América had to vacate their Estadio Azteca (capacity 87,500) in central Mexico City, because it is being renovated for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is being jointly-hosted by the USA, Mexico, and Canada. (There will be 16 venues for the 2026 tournament: 11 venues in the United States, 3 venues in Mexico, and 2 venues in Canada.)
Below:
Estadio Azteca (aka Estadio Banorte), home of the Mexico national fútbol team, is owned by broadcast giant Televisa, who are also owners of Club América. Estadio Azteca will be the venue for the opening match of the 2026 World Cup.
Photo of Estadio Azteca undergoing renovation [January 2025], by Mexsport via record.com.mx.
Cruz Azul were playing where Club América are playing now – Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes, capacity of only 34,200, in north-central Mexico City – but ‘logistical issues’ forced them out of that venue, and so Cruz Azul found temporary accommodations across town at Estadio Olímpico Universitario, home of UNAM Pumas (capacity 73,000), in west-central Mexico City. A bit of musical chairs, in other words, and an example of how much clout Club América have.
The other two 2026 FIFA World Cup venues in Mexico…
Below: Estadio Akron, capacity 49,800, home of Chivas Guadalajara.
Photo of Estadio Akron (Guadalajara), unattributed at mercadoemergente.com.
And in Greater Monterrey, Estadio BBVA, capacity 55,000, home of the highest-drawing club in Mexico, CF Monterrey.
Photo of Estadio BBVA (Greater Monterrey), by Jorge Taboada / ideacubica.com via populous.com/[estadio-bbva-bancomer].
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Titles list…
58 clubs have competed in the Mexican 1st division since its founding in 1943-44. Club América, of Mexico City, have won the title a record 16 times (and are reigning champions, having won the 2024 Apertura). Second-most titles belongs to Chivas Guadalajara, with 12 titles (their last in the 2017 Apertura). The third-most titles have been won by Toluca, with 10 titles (their last in the 2010-Bicentario). The titles list is then followed by…Cruz Azul with 9 titles (their last in the 2021 Guardianes), then Tigres UANL with 8 titles (their last in the 2024 Clausura), then Club León with 8 titles (their last in the 2020 Guardianes), then both Pachuca and Pumas UNAM with 7 titles (last title won in the 2022 Apertura, and the 2011 Clausura, respectively).
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Liga MX attendance down by 5,000-per-game compared to 11 years ago…
-Chart by billsportsmaps.com. Attendance figures from worldfootball.net, and from en.wikipedia.org.
It is actually worse than that, because Liga MX had its highest attendance in 2016-17, drawing an impressive 27,211 per game (6th-best attendance in the world that year). So Liga MX has seen a 6 thousand per game drop in attendance since then (8 years ago).
Meanwhile, all the other highest-drawing leagues in the world have seen an increase in attendance. All except Germany’s Bundesliga, but the Bundesliga had a drop in attendance because so many big clubs have been relegated in the last few years (clubs like Hamburg, Schalke, and Hertha Berlin), and have been replaced by smaller clubs: if you combine the Bundesliga and 2-Bundesliga attendance figures, you will see that the top two divisions in Germany have seen a 6.9-K-per-game increase since 2014-15. Brazi’ls Campeonato Serie A has seen a 9.6-K increase in attendance. Italy’s Serie A has seen an 8.3-K increase. Argentina’s Liga Profesional de Fútbol has seen a 6.2-K increase. France’s Ligue 1 has seen a 5.2-K increase. Spain’s La Liga has seen a 3.1-K increase. The 2nd division in England & Wales (the EFL Championship) has seen a 2.1-K increase. And Major League Soccer (in USA and Canada) has seen a 1.7-K increase. But Mexico’s Liga MX has seen a 5,000-per-game decrease in attendance since 2014-15.
What is the reason for the attendance drop in Liga MX? What has happened in the last decade or so to cause this? Well, in November 2016, Liga MX withdrew from the Copa Libertadores, citing logistical problems after the tournament expanded to an eleven-month-long format. This immediately damaged fan engagement: the following season (2017-18), attendance dropped 2.8-K-per-game. Then, during the height of the COVID outbreak, in April 2020, Liga MX decided to ape the MLS-closed-shop-with-no-promotion-or-relegation model, and announced that the Relegation/Promotion system would be suspended “for 6 years”. And, like MLS, Liga MX started allowing new clubs into the Mexican top flight, but only in the form of expansion teams.
And guess which clubs in Liga MX draw worst right now? That’s right, two of these expansion teams: FC Juárez, who drew only 9.7-K-per-game (established 2015 and who joined Liga MX in 2019), and Mazatlán, who drew 10.6-K-per-game (established in 2020 and who joined Liga MX in 2020).
Here is an article from October 2024 at Footboom1.com, The Collapse of Liga MX?: While MLS Breaks Attendance Records, Mexican Stadiums Are Empty. Here is an excerpt…“With no ‘something to fight for’ for the clubs at the bottom of the points table (besides a monetary penalty for the last three places), combined with factors like ticket prices and security conditions at venues, fans are opting to watch games from home,” asserts Fox Sports.
And from a Reddit thread from November 2024, on falling attendance in Liga MX, here is the top-rated comment…“At the end of the day the league is selling a boring product back to the fans. There’s no relegation/promotion, there’s no copa Mx, there’s no libertadores/sudamericana, there’s nothing else to watch but your favorite team and even then that is watered down depending which team you support.” (Chivasguy1906.)
And here is an article from Goal.com from April 2025, Atlético Morelia president believes promotion and relegation will be reinstated in Liga MX in 2026.
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Blank map of Mexico, by Keepscases at wikimedia.commons.org (File:Blank map of Mexico.svg).
