FC Barcelona and Real Madrid would enter 400 million euros more, up to 874 and 847 million, with the European project
MADRID, Dec. 2 (.) –
The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, denounced that the Super League project wants domestic competitions to be its “vassals” and warned that it would destroy them “in the medium term” apart from enriching clubs like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, in the presentation of the conclusions of the KPMG 2022 expert report on the reduction of income in LaLiga.
“The Super League is not a competition format, it is an excuse, an ideological concept that was born in the year 2000, inspired, devised and led by the president of Real Madrid, who wants the big European clubs to be the ones in charge. It is very detrimental to the national leagues, and would destroy them in the medium term and the fans of the Spanish clubs,” he said at a press conference held at the CEOE headquarters in Madrid.
In an act, together with the general director of LaLiga, Javier Gómez, and the director of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the CEOE, Inmaculada Benito, Javier Tebas said that the Super League “is not going to win”. “We are going to fight. We do not consider the scenario of going bankrupt. We have beaten him once and we will continue to do so. If the question is: can the model of the national leagues be transferred to the Super League? The answer is ‘ No,'” he added.
“And it would mean the ruin not only of the Spanish clubs but of the rest of the Europeans. When the greats disagree, they do not go to the assembly, they say that it seems expensive to travel to Dubai and they want us to be their vassals. The model is more than semi-open It is quasi-closed,” stressed the president of the club association.
According to the KPMG study, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid would enter 400 million euros more between them and would go from the 675 and 735 planned for this 2022-23 academic year to 874 and 847 million with the Super League project, since they would see each other “penalized” for the impairment of the value of the Champions League and LaLiga.
For their part, the rest of the LaLiga Santander clubs would lose “55 percent” and would see their income reduced from 3,210 million to 2,401 in this year. The impact on audiovisual rights would be 64 percent and a decrease of 1,208 million in the case of playing the matches on the weekend. If they had to be played during the week, it would amount to 69.2 percent and about 1,301 million less would be received.
Thebes accused the Super League, whose project recalled that it was announced on October 20, 2021 in a German weekly, of a lack of transparency and of being a “mere expression” of three clubs, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus, “and, if they rush me, one and its president, Florentino Pérez”.
“Maybe you have to support the medium-sized clubs so that they have more economic income and can beat the big ones. This is the case in MotoGP, which nurtures the satellite teams to make them more competitive. Why don’t we do it the other way around? “, he asked himself.
He recalled that the Spanish LaLiga has been talking about financial sustainability since the 2012-13 season “in a clear and hard way”. “Two of the three clubs cannot give us lessons in financial sustainability. At Juventus their directors are being prosecuted. We are facing a governance problem. They want the big clubs to take over the power of European football,” he stressed.
DOMESTIC LEAGUES: 75 PERCENT OF REVENUE
LaLiga recalled that the 40 associations and their 1,554 European clubs generate income of 25,725 million, 11,000 of them from audiovisual rights, and that the domestic leagues produce more than 75 percent of said income.
Likewise, he recalled that the continental clubs already “frontally” rejected this model in a meeting held in Madrid in 2019 with the presence of representatives of 244 clubs and 21 leagues, and that what he promotes is that 70 percent of the added income go only to the increase in the salary of 5 percent of the players.
“It is as if the banks ruled the countries. We cannot leave football in the hands of those who have the most. We must seek balance and in the hands of organizations such as UEFA, which, with its defects, through the Champions League achieves a fairer distribution in European football”, compared the head of LaLiga.
“IT IS A MERITOCRACY BETWEEN BRACKETS”
Regarding whether the Super League “is not a project for the rich”, Tebas asked that they not be treated “like fools”. “I feel terrible because we know who is behind it. Florentino thinks the same as in 2000. He said that Real Madrid has the function of protecting football. They are going to be repeating the meritocracy to convince us. It is a meritocracy of brackets and the effect is the destruction of all the national leagues,” he stressed.
In this sense, he assured that the Super League knows what format they are going to use, but that they do not communicate it. “They hide the format under the table because it doesn’t interest them. We like the models of a balanced distribution between all the clubs. UEFA will have to improve governance, but not so that the big clubs command,” he said.
In his opinion, UEFA “is not an ogre” and can meet with the Super League “with whoever he wants”, but that “it is one thing to talk and another to negotiate”. “A model that ruins the national leagues cannot be negotiated. A few weeks ago there was no meeting but some issues were ‘clarified’,” he said.
For Thebes, clubs like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona “would lose” in the medium term. “They earn about 200 million each, but the national league loses and would continue to do so. And their competition and audiovisual model would work, but after the third year it would fall in value. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, which are the locomotive of Spanish football, they have done great thanks to LaLiga”, commented.
“Of course it worries me when a club is angry. But when you have 40 who travel to Dubai, it doesn’t worry me. LaLiga’s obligation is for medium-sized clubs to have the chance to negotiate with large investors,” he said, alluding to Real Madrid’s refusal and FC Barcelona to travel to the next LaLiga Assembly.
