By David Gold
August 15 – The La Liga season will get underway again as planned this weekend after an emergency meeting between league clubs angry at the state of television rights in Spain.
Sports Minister Miguel Cardenal (pictured below) was called in to mediate the dispute, with 13 La Liga teams looking to resolve a disagreement over the ownership of television rights with broadcasters Canal+ and Mediapro.
The clubs also want a collective television rights deal, rather than the individual model which currently exists and allows Barcelona and Real Madrid (pictured top, in white) to take more than half of broadcast revenues generated in the league.
All first and second tier sides were called to the meeting at the Spanish Professional League (LFP) headquarters in Madrid.
LFP President José Luis Astiazarán confirmed that the season would resume as planned after talks in which progress was reported to have been made on the issues.
“We discussed issues to do with the league, with governance and with television broadcasts,” he said.
“There will be games this weekend that will start at the scheduled time.”
Miguel Guillén, President of Real Betis, in conversation with the club’s radio station, added: “There will have to be a solution but it won’t be ready tomorrow.
“It was an extremely important step forward that the Secretary of State is perfectly aware of the issues to be addressed.
“We fully agree that the way football is organised in Germany would be an ideal formula to apply in Spain, both in the equitable distribution of [cash from] audiovisual rights and treating the fans with maximum respect.”
The clubs say there is “serious legal insecurity” due to the dispute with the broadcasters, and want unpaid debts and any legal action against them be dropped.
They have also asked for “television operators to establish a stable framework to ensure the fair distribution of broadcasting rights for all clubs in the Primera Division”.
Another key issue is that kick off times for La Liga matches will be as late as 11pm this season, with Real Mallorca playing Espanyol, Levante facing Atlético Madrid and Real Zaragoza against Real Valladolid on the opening weekend of the new campaign.
The 13 clubs who called the meeting are Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Betis (pictured above), Celta Vigo, Espanyol, Getafe, Granada, Real Mallorca (pictured top in red), Osasuna, Rayo Vallecano, Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Real.
“We are 13 united teams and we have to carry on until we achieve our goals and try to win the battle for the good of our own interests and those of La Liga,” Atlético President Enrique Cerezo said after the meeting.
The news La Liga will go ahead as planned will be a huge relief to the LFP, after the start of last season was delayed due to a players’ strike over unpaid wages.
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