Threat of closure in LaLiga

Maximum tension in LaLiga. As El Mundo has advanced and has been able to confirm AS, Spanish football could be facing a lockout as the First and Second Division clubs are considering as a protest measure against the swerve of the PP and the Government in the processing of the new Sports Law. This Monday will be the key day for the future of this decision. The presidents of the Delegate Commission (Atlético, Levante, Sevilla, Betis, Real Sociedad, Cádiz, Getafe, Villarreal, Tenerife, Alavés, Eibar, Las Palmas, Lugo and Huesca) will attend together with Javier Tebas, president of the employers’ association, to a summit with Miquel Iceta, Minister of Culture and Sports, and Franco, President of the Higher Sports Council.

The Superliga, television rights and the share of power between the clubs and the Federation are three of the fronts on which the LaLiga clubs are taking positions. The presidents of the teams consider that their opinion is not taken into account and only the president of Real Madrid is heard. “The Sports Law is being done by Florentino Pérez”, they assure AS. The clubs predict an increase in judicial clashes (more than the one experienced in recent years) and fear that their economic stability is in danger due to this situation. The reason is the withdrawal of seven amendments presented by the PP, which had been requested by LaLiga and with which the PSOE initially agreed. The problem arose a little over a week ago when the party led by Feijoo withdrew these amendments in the face of what the clubs understand to be pressure from Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid. “They were negotiating with us and suddenly they told us that they had to listen to the other side. They give more importance to the opinion of a club than to that of the remaining 41 teams. The Sports Law has been changed by Florentino Pérez”, assure sources of the negotiations consulted by AS.

The LaLiga clubs requested with these amendments a protection for Spanish football in the face of the possibility of the Superliga being launched, whose precursor and president is also Florentino Pérez. The intention of the employers was to establish protection measures similar to those established in England. They also wanted to deny licenses to play in LaLiga to the clubs that participated in the Super League (which would exclude Real Madrid and Barcelona from the First Division if they maintained their intention to continue in said project). Secondly, explicit recognition was also requested in the draft law of LaLiga’s marketing rights. The great manna of Spanish football. The main source of income for most LaLiga teams and an issue in which the white team has also clashed with Tebas. It is feared that without said amendment that includes this recognition, legal uncertainty could be created that could even jeopardize the 50-year agreement between LaLiga Impulso and CVC.

There is a third point that worries the clubs and it is the growing power of the Federation with the drafting of the Sports Law. Currently, A report is requested from LaLiga regarding any change that the RFEF wants to make in the statutes, approved via CSD. In the current wording, this report would not be requested from the clubs. What they understand leaves them helpless at the sole discretion of the Federation, with which they are confronted in various court proceedings (Monday and Friday matches, LaLiga Impulso, Plan Miami…).

This Monday’s meeting at the Sports Ministry will be key for Spanish football. All the presidents of the clubs that make up the Delegated Commission will attend. They are the ones who have had the initiative and who claim that this is not a Tebas-Florentino, but rather want to send the message that it is Spanish football in general against the new wording of the Sports Law. If they are not listened to, once the economic consequences have been analyzed in the last LaLiga Assembly, the possibility of a bosses’ strike is a very likely fact, according to what they assure AS.