Spanish League in race against time to stop strike
The RFEF announced last week a strike to halt football over a dispute regarding government interference in the league’s television rights.
At the heart of the dispute is a proposed law which would force the RFEF to sell television rights for the Primera Division collectively. Rights are currently sold on a club-by-club basis, leading to significant imbalances in club revenues.
At an extraordinary general assembly of the Spanish Football League (LFP) yesterday in Madrid, club presidents stood by their plan to switch to collective rights in order to increase the competitiveness of the league.
LFP president Javier Tebas said: “The threat of the strike exists. We fully support the Royal Decree (proposed law).
“We have presented a lawsuit because we believe this strike is illegal and can be very damaging. We are looking at an illegal strike and that is why we have gone to the judicial system.
“We’ve also requested that the Spanish Sports Council (CSD) grant us a temporary measure in view of the RFEF’s petition to suspend the campaign. We hope the CSD will resolve this within the next two days.”
The RFEF is against the proposed legislation because it would only receive 4.55% of pools revenue from the Spanish government, a figure the federation deems inadequate.
The RFEF has the backing of the Spanish professional footballers’ union (AFE), which is also unhappy with its proposed share of the deal.
