Real Madrid and Barça "remain La Liga's top draws" and beIN Sports is "willing to cough up" €250M ($283M) to "show one of the big boys' matches every week," according to Gómez & Fernández of MARCA. This figure has emerged in the "run-up to the bidding war for the new TV rights packages that are to go on the market" following the recently passed Royal Decree governing the centralized sale of TV rights. BeIN Sports, owned by Qatari news network Al Jazeera, is set to make a "major play to get a slice of the action" and is specifically interested in screening 20 Barcelona and Real Madrid games apiece in a premium slot. The possibility "has been mooted during discussions of having these fixtures kick off" at 6:15pm on Saturday, which would be a "strategic time in order to attract viewers in England." The league and the interested broadcasters have been in "ongoing contact over the last few days and hopes are high" that the overall pie could be worth €1.25B ($1.4B), when the "most optimistic forecasts until recently had stood" at €1.05B ($1.2B). The auction is expected to start in two weeks' time. Despite the change in rules, Real and Barcelona "still stand to bank more than the other clubs" and the €250M would come "on top of what they bring in from other networks," both domestic and int'l (MARCA, 6/17).
