Betis chief: Spain needs fairer TV cash system
Reuters - Wednesday 27 July 2011, 03:59
SEVILLE - Barcelona and Real
Madrid's growing control of La Liga is causing serious damage
and their dominance of television revenue must be addressed,
according to the president of promoted Real Betis.
European and La Liga champions Barca and great rivals Real,
the world's richest clubs in terms of revenue, take about half
the total pot of TV income of 600 million euros,
allowing them to buy the best players and pay exorbitant wages.
The remaining 18 teams earn far less than their peers in
rival European leagues, where a system of collective bargaining
allows for fairer revenue distribution, and have no chance of
challenging for the title.
Seville-based Betis, one of Spain's best-supported teams,
have slipped deep into the red just like many other clubs as
they strive to remain competitive. They have also been forced to
seek court protection from their creditors.
"As we have seen the last few years there are only two teams
that have a chance of winning La Liga," Betis president Miguel
Guillen told Reuters in an interview held in his modest office
on Tuesday.
"The gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid and the rest is
going to get bigger and bigger," added the 42-year-old business
administration graduate.
"This is doing great damage not only to the other clubs that
are not Real Madrid and Barcelona but also to our league.
"In the long term we are hurting our league because there
will be less interest and it will generate less TV revenue."
Guillen is the latest president to call for change in the
distribution of Spain's TV money and the introduction of a
system similar to the one used in the English Premier League.
RUBBISH LEAGUE
Jose Maria del Nido, president of Betis's city rivals
Sevilla, said this month that the Spanish league was "third
world" and "a load of rubbish."
An agreement Barca and Real brokered last year with 11 other
top-flight sides on sharing some of the TV cash from 2015 is
likely to cement their advantage while helping the other clubs
only marginally, analysts have said.
Figures collated by Jose Maria Gay, a professor of
accounting at the University of Barcelona, show Barca earned 158
million euros from their TV deal in the 2009-10 season, or 26
percent of the total, and Real 136 million euros, or 22 percent.
Real's city rivals Getafe, 2008 UEFA Cup quarter-finalists,
earned six million, or one percent.
In the English Premier League, Manchester United made 64.5
million euros from domestic TV rights in 2009-10, 5.8 percent of
the total.
Smaller clubs like Wolverhampton Wanderers (43.8 million)
and Wigan Athletic (42.8 million) were allocated about four
percent of the pie.
"We do think [the Spanish system] needs to be changed," said
Guillen who has been tasked by Betis administrators with getting
the club's finances back in order after years of mismanagement.
"Considering that it's such an important part of income, the
distribution needs to be more equal between the clubs.
"People in South America, in Asia, in the United States, are
going to lose interest because they know there is nothing much
outside the matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
"We'll have less consumers and in the long term this is not
good for Spanish football," said Guillen.
The terms of Betis's TV deal limited their earnings from
selling audiovisual rights to 2.8 million euros last season
while they were in the second tier, he added.
The club's return to the top flight is set to boost income
for the 2011-12 campaign to 29 million euros.