British media: Premier League broadcast revenue quickly exceeds La Liga, Barcelona and Real Madrid drain Spanish football

October 27 The Daily Telegraph recently commented on the financial status and gap between La Liga and the Premier League.

The article wrote that the debt-ridden Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona often disagree, but La Liga is unanimously jealous of the Premier League's financial resources.

Barcelona's scheduled La Liga overseas game against Villarreal in Miami was cancelled, causing all parties to blame each other. La Liga president Tebas lamented the missed opportunity to earn money, a sentiment echoed by Barcelona, ​​but Real Madrid were delighted by Tebas' embarrassment and saw the game as damaging to La Liga.

Spanish football has once again been plunged into civil war this week, with all sides expressing dissatisfaction with the Premier League and its dominance of the broadcast rights market. Barcelona and Real Madrid are on opposite sides of the issue for the first time, and while they are rivals on the pitch, they have mostly been on the same page off it in recent years. As the last two supporters of the European Super League, they are generally hostile to Tebas, the European football order after 2021, and the financial resources of the Premier League.

Both clubs are burdened with huge debts, especially Real Madrid, whose debt is as high as approximately 3 billion euros. Both clubs have agreements with US investment firms to sell future matchday or broadcast revenue to boost current revenue. Barcelona even went a step further, leaving a €100 million hole in their books after selling certain assets last season and breaching La Liga's financial control regulations. Both parties are trying to find additional revenue streams, but there is no clear solution yet.

At the same time, the Premier League's broadcast revenue is rapidly surpassing La Liga. Florentino especially does not like this and is very dissatisfied with it. While Laporta appears to be making peace with the powerful European Football Club Organization (formerly the ECA), the 78-year-old Florentino remains firmly opposed.

However, there is one thing that neither club seems willing to do, and that is to achieve a balanced financial distribution in La Liga through a more equitable distribution of wealth. La Liga's broadcast revenue distribution shows that Barcelona and Real Madrid received 163 million euros and 160 million euros respectively, while Atletico Madrid, the third highest earner, only received 118 million euros, and the income of other La Liga teams fell far behind.

If Barcelona and Real Madrid want La Liga to attract broadcasters like the Premier League, they may need a fairer wealth distribution system, because this may make La Liga games more unpredictable and increase the suspense of match days.

Since the 2000-01 season, in addition to Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​only Valencia and Atletico Madrid have won the La Liga championship, while the Premier League has had 6 different teams win the championship during the same period.

Despite this, La Liga's debt-laden and disgruntled two giants have moved on, with Barcelona now facing a cash crunch, while Real Madrid's renovation of its Santiago Bernabeu stadium has encountered opposition from local residents' associations, forcing the construction of an underground parking lot to be abandoned.