February 12 – While English top-flight football basks in the affluence of its new record-breaking television deal, in Spain, another of the so-called ‘big five’ European leagues, the situation could not be more different with clubs desperate to adopt a similar collective bargaining deal – and prepared to stop playing to make it happen.
Espanyol president Joan Collet told Spanish radio clubs were “ready to halt La Liga” if a new government-backed deal is not forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.
“I have already spoken with clubs like Valencia. We would have to hold another assembly but we are ready if the government doesn’t get a move on,” said Collet.
La Liga is the only major European league in which clubs negotiate their own TV contracts. Real Madrid and Barcelona together take about half the annual La Liga TV money of €650 million.
According to Esteve Calzada, CEO of Barcelona-based consulting firm Prime Time Sport, the ratio in Spain between the team that makes the most TV money and the one that makes the least is about 10 to 1. To put it into further perspective, the team that earns the least in the new Premier League deal will get a staggering £106 million per season compared to the current £11million in Spain.
“We are still maintaining this disgraceful situation with the two clubs (Real and Barca) earning what nobody else in Europe earns,” Collet added. “The current TV contracts are nearing their end and because the law has not been approved we cannot negotiate the new ones.”
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