By David Owen in Monaco
October 9 – Spain looks increasingly likely to switch to a collective model for the sale of broadcasting rights to La Liga for the 2016-17 season.
Javier Tebas, La Liga’s President, explained at the Sportel Convention in Monte Carlo that the rights would revert to the league in 2016-17 and that the league would start commercialising them “when the law allows us to do so”.
Tebas told INSIDEworldfootball that a decree would be ratified by the Spanish parliament, possibly as soon as next month and in any case before June 2015. This would suggest that La Liga could start marketing the 2016-17 rights during the course of next year.
At present broadcast rights in Spain are sold individually, with the Big Two, Barcelona and Real Madrid, generating far more than their rivals. While this has helped to ensure that the country has strong challengers in the Champions League year in year out, the revenue disparity makes it particularly difficult for other clubs to achieve what Real’s local rivals Atlético Madrid accomplished last season by pipping the Big Two to the league title.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like new arrangements will be structured in such a way that Real and Barcelona suffer little if any reduction in the rights fees they currently earn.
“We want to grow together with Barcelona and Real Madrid without damaging them,” Tebas said. “So the idea is that the small teams grow but not at the expense of the big clubs. I think it will enable us to grow faster. In the long term, all the league will grow.”
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