Spanish TV rights: the story never ends....

A few months ago it seemed as if the movement toward more equitable television rights in Spain for the league games was making progress.  At least, if you listened to Javier Tebas, it was.  So why has nothing happened?

March 26th was supposed to be the day that progress was made on this, but as the excellent Sevilla blog (it pains me to say that after losing to these guys four times this season!!) Monchi's Men explains, the problem is basically that the LFP (the league, consisting of the 42 professional clubs in the top divisions) and the RFEF (the Royal Spanish Football Federation, which is the national organization devoted to football) don't see eye to eye.

As a result of that, Tebas held a meeting of the LFP March 31 at which the LFP condemned the failure of the RFEF president, Ángel Maria Villar, to attend the March 26 meeting, and said "the RFEF doesn't represent us".  Supposedly, the members from league clubs serving on the RFEF board could resign in protest.  But which clubs do they represent?  Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and Valencia.  Surprise!! The same four clubs whose take is enshrined in the current TV agreement.  So that ain't happenin', as we say here in the US.

Meanwhile, the Spanish footballers' union seems to be mobilizing against Tebas as well, at least if this Marca interview with their president is to be believed.

My personal feeling is it will take a ruling from the EU's Competition Commission that the situation is anti-competitive before anything happens.  At that point, the government of the day can at least force something to happen.  Right now, with elections coming up, don't expect the government to push that hard to get the LFP and RFEF to bury the hatchet and get something done.