By Mark Baber
February 18 – The FC Barcelona board has agreed to sell their audiovisual rights for 2015/16 to Madrid-based multinational Telefónica, ditching long-standing partner Mediapro, in a strategic move ahead of legislation in the Spanish parliament expected to impose collective bargaining for television income on Spanish clubs.
In their press release Barcelona say that “FC Barcelona with this agreement is backing a leading global company in their sector and with a clear agenda of innovation. Telefónica, for their part, include this agreement in their global television and content strategy.”
“This agreement, that is strategic for our organisation, is the result of a long period of contact and negotiations with operators from all over the world.”
Barcelona have also agreed Telefónica will take over exploitation of Barça TV.
Although no numbers have been officially released, the deal is reported to be worth around €140 million – a similar amount to that paid by Mediapro.
In their statement FC Barcelona say they “would like to thank the company Mediapro for their support and their collaboration over the years that they have been linked to our organisation in the area of television rights.”
Mediapro, for their part, have not hidden their dissatisfaction with the decision – with their founder and president, Jaume Roures, telling Spanish media the club had been unfair and disloyal. According to Roures, “our loyalty to the club has gone beyond what is reasonable” and “our offer was better, in money and in international expansion.”
Barcelona have also announced that for the next three seasons Telefónica will be the club’s regional partner in Latin America, including Mexico, with Telefónica activating sponsorship agreements in the area with their brands Movistar and Vivo.
With doubts having been expressed in recent weeks over the continuance of sponsorship from Qatar, with a battle likely over how TV revenues are divided between Spanish clubs (the lion’s share of which are currently taken by Real Madrid and Barcelona), a strategic shift towards Lain America and with a board quite keen to disassociate itself from the decisions taken by previous club administrations, the signing of a deal with the hugely powerful Telefónica comes as no surprise.
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