Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica has submitted an offer to acquire the collective international rights for LaLiga, the new brand name for the Spanish Football League.
The value of the bid is reported by the Marca daily sports newspaper to be €450m ($507m) per season over three seasons.
The Mediapro agency, LaLiga’s international rights distribution partner, has guaranteed the league a minimum of €400m per season over the next five seasons.
The report said that any income generated above the €400m-per-season threshold would be split between Mediapro and LaLiga, from 25 to 75 per cent, respectively.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas told the AS newspaper that Real Madrid was the only club not to agree to the new centralised distribution model.
“I talk again of a war in Spanish football because of all 42 clubs involved in the centralised distribution of broadcasting rights just one – Real Madrid – do not agree,” he said. “Why? Well you'd have to ask Real Madrid. If we knew the reasons why it signed a contract with Telefónica in May – an agreement which would qualify as strange to say the least – that would help us understand.
“Madrid are a great club that believes itself to be a champion of transparency; but the truth is that they have other interests than the rest of La Liga. I think Madrid wants to keeps control of its broadcasting rights. It's a mix of being money-hungry and power-hungry. It is not clear what they are up to.”