Argentine football execs agreed on Wednesday to the creation of a Superliga, "a new tournament that will replace the current league and be controlled by the clubs themselves," according to the EFE. The Superliga was approved with 70 votes in favor and one against. The first and second division of Argentine football "will now be managed by the clubs, following the models used in Spain, Italy and England." The Argentine FA "will remain in charge of the other categories and the national team but will have no direct influence on the Superliga." AFA VP Claudio Tapia said, "Ninety-nine percent of the execs have accompanied this project. It is a demonstration of wisdom. What we have approved of today will become the relaunch of Argentine football." Mario Giammaría, representing the Rosario Football League, was the only exec to vote against the Superliga. He said, "We have chosen the worst model of all to imitate, the Spanish model, which is a tournament that has widened the differences between the big and small clubs." Superliga execs "will manage all the public funds that the AFA had until now received from the Fútbol para Todos government program managing the TV rights for games." The execs are confident that the normalization committee that FIFA will create to "regulate" the AFA will "not oppose the implementation of the Superliga." The new league will begin on Aug. 19. Though "the competition format is still unknown, significant changes to the current 30-team format are not expected" (EFE, 7/13). GOAL reported there "are many who do not know what the new organization that will manage the top categories consists of." It is "important to take into account that the Superliga is not only an independent structure within the AFA, but a new organization that will have a council of 18 members -- 12 from the first division and six from the second -- and a president who has not yet been named" (GOAL, 7/13).
SHARING THE WEALTH: GOAL reported in a separate piece with the new agreement, all first division clubs will earn 25% more than they currently receive. Boca Juniors and River Plate "will be the clubs that receive the most." The revenue will be split among three groups, with Boca and River (Group 1) to receive 97.86M Argentine pesos ($6.64M); Racing, Independiente, San Lorenzo and Vélez (Group 2) to receive 74.61M Argentine pesos ($5.07M); and the other 24 clubs in the first division (Group 3) to receive 55.59M Argentine pesos ($3.77M) each (GOAL, 7/14).
RIGHTS TO BE TENDERED? OLÉ reported U.S.-based broadcaster Turner could offer up to 3B Argentine pesos ($203M) for the rights to the first division. On Friday there is expected to be a meeting between Argentine President Mauricio Macri's Secretary General Fernando de Andreis and businessman Fernando Marín, who are responsible for the Fútbol para Todos program. That meeting is also expected to be attended by the presidents of Independiente, Boca Juniors, Barracas Central and other execs. With the Superliga now approved, the Government -- which is currently contracted to spend 2.5B Argentine pesos ($170M) to televise games through '19 -- could call for a tender for the TV rights with that contract suspended (OLÉ, 7/13).
