Spanish Football League Clubs Decide Not To Strike Over TV Rights

Spain's 42 professional football clubs have "rowed back from a threat to go on strike and will give the government more time to push through a law mandating collective bargaining for TV rights," according to Iain Rogers of REUTERS. Spanish Football League (LFP) President Javier Tebas said that club officials meeting in Barcelona at a LFP extraordinary general assembly decided to "give the government 10-12 days more leeway to make progress on the law." Tebas: "There needs to be a (law) that regulates the sale of television rights. Without it, the reality is that Spanish football will drop to fifth or sixth in the European ranking." Many clubs in La Liga, including champions Atlético Madrid, Espanyol, Valencia and Sevilla, are hopeful a collective deal would "enable them to demand more cash from broadcasters which could then be shared out more equitably" (REUTERS, 3/25).