After somehow delaying the inevitable for weeks, Necaxa have finally been relegated after this weekend's 1-1 draw against Atlante. Their relegation coefficient sits well below one, while every other club sits at 1.1 or higher. Their form has simply been terrible since their stunning three consecutive victories in February, and you'll be hard pressed to find someone who believes they didn't deserve to get relegated. Their rivals Estudiantes Tecos, Atlante, Atlas and Queretaro have won big games. They haven't.
This will be the second time in three years that Necaxa gets relegated, taking a significant financial toll on the club. According to a report at Medio Tiempo, the financial damage to the club could be as much as $20 million over just the next season. This doesn't take into account the enormous amount of money that was ultimately wasted on players in January, what an extended period of time in the second division might do to Necaxa's brand, or how much money they will have to spend on new players when they come back up in order to stay in the top flight.
Suddenly, selling Hugo Rodallega for rougly $7m in 2008 doesn't seem like such a good piece of business. Had they held on to Rodallega (or replaced him properly), it's likely that Necaxa never would have been relegated to the second division.
Ultimately, that decision or series of decisions is a reflection a problem in Mexican football that is deeper than a failure to hold onto key players, and that is ownership monopolies. Necaxa are owned by the Televisa group, who also own San Luis and Club America. As far as financial support goes, Necaxa are almost certainly third to Televisa. When they were relegated for the first time a couple of years ago, loan players from America and San Luis regularly made up a majority of their lineup.
Through cheapskate practices, then wasteful spending when they finally did spend money, the Televisa group have made decisions in the last three years that have caused them to lose at least $50m on Necaxa, by all accounts. By simply paying a few quality players in the first place, but being frugal about their spending, Necaxa likely would have never left the first division. Now, they're about to be $50m poorer than they should be and facing a promotion battle.
Good work, Televisa.