'A ruinous deal' - Barcelona and Real Madrid launch scathing attack on La Liga CVC agreement
Paul Macdonald
- Updated: 8 Dec 2021 03:05 CST
- 5 min read
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletic Club have stepped up their ward of words with La Liga over the recent announcement of a CVC investment deal that will shape the future of Spanish football for the next half century.
Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, has previously discussed his satisfaction at securing the financial futures for Primera and Segunda Division clubs by way of a external investment agreement, which will see billions invested into the Spanish game. Tebas believes this is absolutely essential in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The deal was set to be worth €2.2 billion and in return, La Liga would surrender 11% of revenue from audiovisual rights from the teams directly to the investment fund for a period of 50 YEARS.
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That deal was signed off by all but three clubs - Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletic Club - and unfortunately for Tebas these happen to be the three most historic and storied sides in the history of the Spanish game.
And Barcelona's announcement on Tuesday - in collaboration with both Real Madrid and Athletic - attempts to paint Tebas' deal as one inherently bad for La Liga, its members, and even goes as far to infer that its implementation is illegal.
The full, lengthy statement is available here, but the key takeaways are:
1) Tebas' project, hereby known as the Impulse Project, was anti-competitive and was not displayed to members in a transparent manner for decision-making purposes
2) Tebas should have, as President of La Liga, 'overlooked' any position or personal interest that could have influenced his behaviour
ℹ️ FC Barcelona statement
🔗 https://t.co/Cu9rtqOEEO pic.twitter.com/H1xIjrTRWG— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 7, 2021
3) They cite 'serious irregularities' in the impulse project around the audiovisual rights for the clubs, which are owned solely by the clubs and not the league, and so therefore cannot be included in any investment arrangement
4) Calls this a 'conceptual error' within the plan in transferring audiovisual rights to this investment fund when La Liga, in fact, does not own them.
Barcelona's statement goes into much greater detail in accusing Tebas of failing to consider a number of key factors, not least the compensation package that was set to be provided to these three clubs for choosing to not to agree to the CVC investment deal.
It's clear that the club(s) are enraged by Tebas conduct, and that further legal ramifications could be set to take place.
Barcelona's budget cap
Barcelona also take aim at the budget cap which has been deployed against all teams in the division but one that left them having to release both Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann in order to be given a licence to compete this season.
They criticise La Liga for not allowing clubs leeway post-coronavirus and branded this, as well as the CVC plans clubs were 'forced' to accept as 'ruinous' and added that they should not be 'prisoners of the administrators', in this case, La Liga.
The Sustainable Project
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletic presented their own plan last weekend as an alternative, known as the Sustainable Project.
Their offering, they claim, is based on a 'common financing structure' and stated that La Liga's denial of its viability 'was simply not telling the truth'.
They the clubs
- FootballTransfersThey claim that their project would save La Liga clubs up to €12bn and includes commitments only for a period of 25 years rather than the CVC deal being over 50.
It is also a 'fully legal deal' that does not infringe clubs' ownership of their own audiovisual rights, whilst denying a non-footballing entity - in this case, CVC - influence over La Liga.
What happens next for LaLiga?
That remains unclear. Thirty-nine of Spain's 42 top-flight clubs have already committed to the CVC deal and Tebas has made it clear that he is not interested in entertaining what is being offered by the three rebel clubs.
It's highly unlikely that those three will simply step aside, as some of the language in this carefully constructed statement has been written with a legal challenge in mind.
Whatever happens, this in-fighting in a moment of fragility for LaLiga on the pitch as well as their precarious finances off it helps no-one.
