July 13 – LaLiga has told the Spanish FA (RFEF) and its president Luis Rubiales that under no circumstances will it be changing the format of its competitions which are working successfully, growing commercially and are sustainably supporting a football industry in Spain.
Rubiales and LaLiga CEO Javier Tebas rarely see eye to eye on competition issues with Rubiales frequently battling for a piece of control over Tebas’s increasingly successful LaLiga kingdom.
His latest power play came out in a press conversation with the press where he said he was “going to ask Javier Tebas to sit down with me to try and change the format of La Liga,” Rubiales said. “We’ve changed the format of many competitions and the results are there for everyone to see.”
Rubiales is proposing fewer match days and the creation of “bigger spectacles. We have to try and capture the attention of more young people by making it more exciting. La Liga has been inflexible. If we want to change the format we have to do it unanimously.”
Rubiales’ rhetoric sound suspiciously like a European Super League-style proposal but in another guise, but nevertheless an attempt at a commercial cash grab.
LaLiga responded immediately saying that the football industry’s challenges are not with its established and successful competitions.
“LaLiga will not consider a change in the format of any of its competitions. The current model, the structure, the days of competition, the schedules, have been a success in recent years,” said a LaLiga statement.
LaLiga counters Rubiales by saying that it has overseen an increase in stadium attendance of more than 20%, that there has been an exponential growth of its audiovisual rights nationally and internationally, including the recent agreement with ESPN in the United Statesm, and that LaLiga has achieved a financial stability making it the “only major league with a positive net result after the first season of COVID.”
“Therefore, any modification of the current format, or to even consider modification, would be irresponsible. Such action would generate uncertainty not just within LaLiga but in other sports and non-professional football, to which LaLiga contributes €125 million every season,” said the LaLiga statement.
However, LaLiga did not close the door to discussion with its national federation completely, but will only meet on issues that improve football.
“LaLiga is willing to dialogue with the RFEF on various issues to improve football, such as the improvement of VAR, which we already proposed days ago, the coordination with the new RFEF 1st division, or defining a common strategy against the European Super League,” says LaLiga.
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