The Spanish government has approved a Royal Decree, the legislation required to enable Spanish football league media-rights to be sold on a collective rather than club-by-club basis.
The legislation will allow the top-tier Liga and second-tier Segunda División to move to a collective rights model for domestic and international rights from the start of the 2016-17 season.
The AS newspaper added that the law would also allow some clubs to negotiate collectively from the start of the 2015-16 campaign by exercising a break clause in their agreements with the Mediapro agency and telecommunications company Telefónica.
Ninety per cent of the total rights income will be allocated to the Liga, with 10 per cent handed to the second tier. Of those totals, 50 per cent of the income in the top tier and 30 per cent of the income in the second division will be distributed equally. The remaining income will be split according to the clubs’ league positions in the previous five seasons in the top division, and the previous season in the second division.
The Royal Decree has curtailed a stand-off between the LFP, which operates the league, the country’s sports council (CSD) and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), for whom president Angel Maria Villar had been accused of failing to represent the interests of the clubs during the process.
LFP president Javier Tebas described the decree as “a necessary decision for the development and growth of football.” He added: “This decision by the Spanish government represents a historic step for Spanish professional football that will allow for a more competitive outlook in the domestic and international markets.”