Mexico's Antitrust Commission corners Liga MX: mandatory 39-question questionnaire for all 18 clubs over scrapping promotion
The antitrust authority served a 39-question request on every top-flight club under case IO-001-2026, requiring them to explain how a legal return of open competition would hurt or benefit them.
The federal investigation into barriers to competition in Mexican football has entered its most critical stage. The antitrust authority has formally served all 18 First Division clubs with an exhaustive 39-question information request on how the market for affiliation, organization and access to professional tournaments is run, which they are legally required to answer.
The document is part of official case file IO-001-2026, whose opening was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on September 14, following calls to investigate the scrapping of promotion and relegation. The probe seeks to determine whether closing the First Division and imposing a closed-franchise model amount to relative monopolistic practices that unfairly shut out Liga de Expansión projects.
Question 39: promotion by law
The core of the request comes in item 39, where the authority asks each club to set out a detailed, technical position on the bill introduced in the Senate to make the return of promotion and relegation in Mexico a legal requirement, demanding that owners explain how such a reform would benefit or harm them.
Fines of up to 10% of revenue
The case puts the clubs at an unprecedented regulatory crossroads: if artificial barriers preventing new franchises from competing are proven, the rulings could order measures to reopen the football pyramid and lead to fines of up to 10% of annual revenue for the parties involved.
Sources: Cuatrecasas: CNA investiga prácticas monopólicas relativas en el fútbol mexicano · Fox Sports: Comisión Nacional Antimonopolio abre investigación por desaparición del ascenso y descenso
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