La Liga President Javier Tebas said that the league "expects to cut the gap with the Premier League and come close to matching its financial strength" by '20, according to Adriana Garcia of REUTERS. La Liga is predicting total revenues of €3.32B ($3.58B) at the end of the current season, a €1.23B ($1.33B) increase from the '11-12 campaign and around €270M ($291.5M) "up from last year." Despite Spanish clubs "having many of the world’s leading players," including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, La Liga "remained a distant second to the English Premier League in terms of being the most profitable league in Europe." Tebas: "We are creating a growth strategy to compete with our rivals, the Premier League, Formula 1 and the NBA." Real Madrid and Barcelona generate 37% of the total revenue (REUTERS, 2/3). BLOOMBERG's Panja & Montijano reported La Liga is "in the midst of a substantial financial turnaround." Sales have grown by 59% since the '11-12 season, "largely due" to the league’s first collective media rights deal. Higher revenues and "better management have reduced teams’ indebtedness." Net debt has fallen to €948M ($1B) from a high of €2B at the end of the '11-12 season. Tebas said that La Liga's "ultimate goal" is to draw within 15% of the EPL. La Liga "now generates as much revenue as the Bundesliga but the Premier League is way ahead," with estimated income of €5.8B ($6.3B) for this season (BLOOMBERG, 2/3).
