All implicated parties in the "ongoing saga" regarding the Spanish Football League's (LFP) centralized TV deal are looking at ways to "move this situation forward, despite the freezing of a law which was expected to be passed which would allow the centralization," according to Marco Ruiz of AS. Alvaro Nadal, who works in Spanish President Mariano Rajoy's financial department, previously "sidelined the law which had been promised" to the LFP by Spanish Superior Sports Council (CSD) President Miguel Cardenal. Nadal feels that it is best that the clubs "negotiate their own specific contracts and these will fall into line with conditions that the current market dictates." The new solution is a "new sub clause to the existing proposed law with a hybrid element." This will permit the centralized rights sale which is currently a figure of €850M ($950M) for domestic and int'l rights and is expected to increase to €1B ($1.12B) "but will not stipulate on how these finances are shared amongst the clubs." This new proposal will "need to be approved by the majority of LFP members" according to LFP statutes and is a solution that Nadal will "also be prepared to give his seal of approval." A new solution is "urgently needed to alleviate the tension and potential strike action that has been mooted amongst certain club presidents" (AS, 3/3). The EP reported LFP President Javier Tebas has warned that if "no law for the centralized sale is approved soon," he "does not rule out" football going on strike. Tebas: "A strike? If the law is not passed I do not rule out anything. It is a strategic law for professional football. In the rest of the strikes by the territories, I believe the root has not been analyzed in a profound way. It is a more 'political' strike against Cardenal." Tebas added of the Premier League, which recently signed a new domestic TV deal, "They drive a Ferrari and we drive a SEAT Toledo. Every weekend there are 11 million more people [there] in the virtual stadiums. If in Spanish football pay-TV does not grow, the EPL will be unreachable. It could happen that it becomes the NBA and the rest of the leagues could become the ACB [Spanish Basketball League], locally a strong league, but not strong internationally" (EP, 3/3). MARCA reported Mediapro President Jaume Roures spoke about the centralization of TV rights. He said, "The question is whether centralization is positive and the answer is yes. It means greater legal
security and greater commitment from the clubs. We could get more than €1 billion. The clubs will get more than they get now. The aim of
the law is to try and reduce the difference of income between the
clubs." Of free-to-air matches, Roures said, "There isn't a single European country that shows matches for free. The audience is small here because it's not marketed" (MARCA, 3/2).
