The collective sale of media rights in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football, is likely to be introduced ahead of the 2016-17 season, according to Josep Maria Bartomeu, the president of top club Barcelona.
Barcelona and rival Real Madrid are currently the beneficiaries of individual media rights sales in Spain, taking €140m ($190m) each per year in Liga rights income, with third-placed Valencia collecting €48m.
Bartomeu told UK newspaper The Times: “We are leading the attempt to find a consensus. It has been our objective for a long time to convince all the clubs in La Liga to sell the rights as a competition. Not all of them have been helpful. We will make the same, but the (revenue) increase will go to the other clubs.”
Javier Tebas, president of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, the Spanish football league, had previously suggested that collective selling could be introduced for the start of the 2015-16 season.
Tebas said last year that Barcelona and Real Madrid would only be willing to switch to the new model if their rights income did not decrease.