The chiefs of 12 Spanish clubs in the first division got together on Thursday to fight for more revenue from the TV rights system which they say greatly favours Real Madrid and Barcelona. The president of Sevilla, Jose Maria del Nido, led the charge against the two giants of the Spanish game, and invited all the clubs except Real and Barca to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.
The clubs’ plan is to ponder what they call the unfair, unequal and outrageous system that is currently in place to distribute financial rights from TV broadcasts, something that is unique in the leagues of Europe. Del Nido said in a statement that the current distribution favours Real and Barca year after year, to the detriment of the other teams. He adds that more money meant better players and had a knock on effect for endorsements and sponsors.
Barcelona and Real Madrid each receive about 140m euros a year from television rights, whilst the smaller clubs like Malaga, Real sociedad and Levante receive only 12m. Del Nido, renowned for his outspokenness, pulled no punches when he blasted the Spanish league as being the biggest pile of rubbish not just in Europe, but in the whole world. He added that it was a third world league where two clubs took everyone else’s money.
The other teams present at the meeting along with Sevilla were Atletico Madrid, Atletico Bilbao, Espanyol, Real Betis, Malaga, Granada, Racing Santander, Osasuna, Villareal, Real Zaragoza and Valencia. Four other clubs, Sporting Gijon, Getafe, Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano were not at the meeting but completely backed the campaign, according to the Sevilla statement that Del Nido released.