La Liga has the two best players in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. It also has two of the top clubs in Real Madrid and Barcelona. Now it's trying to find new ways to capitalize on the stardom and keep pace with the rapidly growing Premier League.Local officials say they don't want the Premier League becoming the NBA of soccer, monopolizing the top players in the world and turning all other leagues into secondary competitions.
Spanish league president Javier Tebas says such scenario could happen in the near future if English clubs continue to spend unlimited amounts on players and other leagues don't find ways to respond.
"We run the risk of having the Premier League become the NBA of football in the next five years, with the rest of European leagues turning into secondary tournaments," Tebas said. "We all know that every talented basketball player discovered anywhere in the world ends up going to the NBA, and if the European football industry and the Spanish football industry don't react, we will also be losing talented football players."
The Spanish league is doing what it can, from demanding UEFA look closely into the money behind the English teams to finding its own sources of revenue to be able to compete with the much-richer Premier League.
Among the actions being taken by the league to expand its brand into new markets is the opening of new offices abroad, including in the rapidly growing soccer markets of the United States and China.
"The U.S. is really crucial for our strategy," La Liga's general director, Ignacio Martinez Trujillo, told The Associated Press. "Soccer is going through a revolution there. The market is growing fast and we want to take advantage of this opportunity to do business there."
The league also recently created an ambassador program in which it will use some of its former stars to help reinforce La Liga's presence abroad. Former Real Madrid stars Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos are among the ambassadors.
"We've been creating the tools to be able to compete with the Premier League financially," Tebas said. "Our clubs need to know that their league is making the investments that will help them keep their talents."
The league is trying to add value to its product and improve how it's delivered to fans. It is focusing on creating better audiovisual packages to broadcasters and improving the fan experience. The league announced this week that the Copa del Rey will be available through pay-per-view on YouTube this season, and it is launching fan-fest sites to bring together Spanish football enthusiasts around the world, with the first one being deployed in Qatar.
"There is no doubt we have the most important clubs and the most important players, people know that," Trujillo said. "Maybe we need to improve the way we communicate about our product, the way we deliver it, but regarding the competition, there is no doubt that we are the most important league."
The push to grow internationally came after Tebas took over as La Liga president in 2013 and revitalized the league's finances by helping reduce the clubs' debt from about 700 million euros ($775 million) to just more than 300 million euros ($331 million). He also negotiated new television deals that more adequately represented the importance of its top clubs and players.
Spanish clubs had been negotiating television rights individually, so the league bought back the rights and renegotiated them at a much higher price, going from about 800 million euros in total ($885 million) to nearly 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion). Tebas said he expects the 2017 deal to reach $1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion), which is still far less than the nearly 7 billion euros ($8 billion) that the Premier League clubs are receiving on their three-year deal.
Tebas also started working to redistribute the television rights more evenly to try to benefit the smaller teams. The hope is to give them a better chance to compete with the powerhouses of Barcelona and Real Madrid, creating greater competition and a more entertaining product. The Premier League has thrived on having several teams contending for the title in recent years.
Tebas said part of the reason the Premier League is a step ahead is because England's pay TV market is much more developed than in Spain, which allows the English clubs to reach a lot more people and negotiate better TV deals. Tebas said England has about 10 million more subscribers than Spain.
La Liga has a potentially bigger problem going forward as a result of Spain's recent push to crack down on tax irregularities involving soccer players, including top stars such as Messi, who will likely stand trial on three counts of tax fraud. Neymar, Barcelona teammate Javier Mascherano and former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso also have been targeted by investigations which eventually could turn some players away.
Tebas said the league has to accept the fact that in a few years it might not be able to count on the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, and that gives him even more reason to continue his push to expand the league globally to increase revenue and remain competitive.
"It's crucial we help our teams keep their talents," Tebas said. "If we can't do that, we will continue to see the Premier League increase its dominance."
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