Rosell, speaking at the International Football Arena, also went on to point out that the current TV rights model in Spain was unsustainable.
It was unrealistic he explained to continue to sell TV rights individually. He said that within a few years a collective deal would have to be in place.
But the key was in the detail of what he did not say. Barcelona and Real Madrid already have an agreement with the rest of the teams in La Liga for a collective TV deal, something which few outlets tend to report when discussing this issue. It has been decided that they will share 34 per cent of TV revenues made from the collective deal, as opposed to the 45 per cent they currently enjoy.
They have been persuaded to do this by two things. One is that by sharing TV rights, Spain will make more money overall, and so although the La Liga giants will be enjoying a smaller percentage of the pot, the pot will itself be bigger, and they should take more money overall. The second is that by enshrining this agreement, they are preserving their duopoly. Atlético Madrid and Valencia will share 11 per cent between them, whilst the rest of the 55 per cent of the TV rights deal will go between the other 16 teams.
Therefore, far from being an equitable division of TV revenues, it will simply formalise in a centralised form the disparity between the income of teams from such rights. So Rosell’s 16 team suggestion was intriguing. Sevilla and Villarreal, two of the teams who will lose out most in this deal as they would be at a financial disadvantage to Atlético Madrid and Valencia even though their recent league positions have been at the very least comparable, are apoplectic.
Villarreal President Fernando Roig has lashed out at the league, as has Jose Maria del Nido, his Sevilla counterpart. Their arguments have been that the league is rubbish, it is boring to see Real and Barca win 6-0 every week, and that no one will want to watch such an uncompetitive league in a few years’ time. Sevilla say that unless something changes, the league is at real risk of completely devaluing its product.
And so it is intriguing that Rosell should now suggest taking up to four teams out of the league. Those four teams would take between them, roughly 14 per cent of the TV revenues if they stay in the league and the new collective deal comes in. If that percentage is divided up and handed to Sevilla and Villarreal, they will, surprise surprise, have about 10.5 per cent of the rights, almost as much as Valencia and Atlético.
This suggestion from Barcelona then, seems fundamentally political. The collective deal suits them and Real, as it preserves their dominance, whilst Valencia and Atlético Madrid are happy as it gives them a financial advantage over their competitors. And then the other 16 teams, apart from Villarreal and Sevilla, are largely intimidated by Barcelona and Real, and are pretty much happy to just grab whatever they can get.
If this is what Barcelona and Real have in mind, it is canny. Is it their way of buying off Sevilla and Villarreal’s support? Perhaps. And at a time when debt in the league is so damaging, standing at approximately €3.5 billion, and with four teams currently in administration, these are troubled waters La Liga is treading.
Regardless of how Rosell’s suggestion works out, it is hard to see how this will work long term. The Spanish league is already worryingly uncompetitive below the top two. Who will watch a league in which Barcelona and Real are permanently dominant? If the long term result of this deal is to continue, or worse still, hasten the decline of the value of the league and therefore its TV rights, the whole of Spain and La Liga loses.
So Rosell’s idea may prove to be a winner off the pitch, but on it, it could prove the complete opposite. La Liga is treading a dangerous path, and a wrong turning could put back the prospect of improving the state of the league back years.
