If you watched LaLiga this weekend, or even just checked in on LaLiga’s social media accounts, you may have noticed the slogan “Ley del Deporte para todos”, “Ley del Deporte for all”, which has replaced the Ukrainian flag in the scoreline and has been hashtagged in every post.
But, if you only watched Real Madrid’s win over Sevilla or Barcelona’s victory against Athletic Club, you won’t have seen it. That’s because the two home teams are the two teams who are backing the proposal, in a clear minority, and in deep conflict with LaLiga over the situation.
First of all, what is the Ley del Deporte? The Ley del Deporte is a law enforced by the Spanish state which establishes regulations for sporting competitions across the country. Included among this is LaLiga and professional football, delving into areas such as the power of different organisations to oversee activities and also the economic factors such as television rights.
However, the current proposal submitted by the left-wing PSOE party in government, and supported by right-wing Partido Popular, has faced fierce criticism. The argument against the current draft of the law builds around four key points: the European Super League, TV rights, the RFEF and Javier Tebas’ power.
Firstly, clubs hoped that this law would provide legal precedent against the Super League project, which the government had criticised in 2021. The hope was to include a rule that any club taking part in a competition not recognised by RFEF or UEFA will not be able to take part in LaLiga. However, it doesn’t at all. The government claim that they’re waiting for rulings in European courts, but that the absence of any such measure has concerned many.
On TV rights, LaLiga was hoping for power to negotiate for these to be assigned to them legally, as it was in 2015. That is at the heart of the CVC deal which would be put into risk with this law as it currently stands, as the law does not provide that and could see a return to clubs negotiating their own rights. Real Madrid took legal action in 2015 and failed to overturn the ruling.
With regards to the RFEF, the Spanish football federation, LaLiga want to be informed and provide their agreement, after consulting with clubs, to any major rule changes from the RFEF. Given the ongoing conflict between LaLiga boss Javier Tebas and RFEF president Luis Rubiales, this is the latest battle in the power struggle.
Finally, Tebas himself is embroiled in the debate. LaLiga want club presidents to be legally subject to Tebas’ decisions, which the government have described as “inadmissible”, though this point does appear to be of lower importance for clubs themselves.
In effect, critics claim that the proposal comes from a certain influential figure within Spanish football seeking to benefit only the biggest clubs in the competition, potentially even with one eye on weakening the league to fund their own ambitions.
“It’s incomprehensible that the government and the opposition talk about or do what one club wants, and not the other 39 who are against it. Of course, it’s only supported by one club, Real Madrid, and two who back them, against 39,” said Fernando Roig Negueroles, Executive Director at Villarreal, who was among the most damning of critics as he spoke to Carrusel Deportivo. “They want a weaker league that isn’t competitive and that can’t pay for itself,” he claimed. “That way, they have an excuse to make a Super League because we’ll all be poor.”
However, Villarreal are not the only club to express concern. “With how it’s written now, it will increase the wealth of two or three big clubs, and economically destroy the rest of us,” Real Betis president Ángel Haro said.
“They want us to go back to an old model, where there was so much more inequality and it limited the growth of smaller teams,” Granada’s general manager, Alfredo García Amado reflected.
“It puts at risk the stability and health of the game on a national level because of external pressures that we don’t want to know where they’ve come from, but they clearly exist,” Real Valladolid’s presidential director David Espinar agreed.
LaLiga’s clubs have made their feelings clear across this weekend, but this could be just the beginning. The commission for the proposed law will meet on Tuesday, and those within LaLiga are confident that they will enact changes to the law which will move it closer towards something that they could agree to. Failure to do so could lead to a strike from LaLiga clubs.
The strike could take place in next weekend’s action should the government not change their position. “We’d like to avoid that, we want fluid dialogue, but time is running out and we have to take decisions,” Betis president Haro said of the potential strike.
The Spanish government now face huge pressure, not only from LaLiga and its clubs, but also from those who are backing the law. Men like Florentino Pérez have huge power and influence in Spain’s financial and political circles, as well as within sport, but a strike from LaLiga clubs would lead to chaos and humiliation. This is a story which could fade away, but it could turn out to be a ticking time bomb about to explode.