La Liga no longer interesting?

Discussion in 'Spain' started by richo, Aug 31, 2011.

  1. richo

    richo Member

    Jun 1, 2007
    California
  2. Juanele

    Juanele Member+

    Aug 4, 1999
    Colorado, US
    There has been a lot of talk about this yeah. Also some talk about the unbalanced TV revenues.

    First step is to make the TV revenues more like the EPL model rather than what it is now.

    Also, while Villarreal is run pretty well (along with some other clubs like Sevilla), most of the other clubs are run like shit (biggest example is Zaragosa).

    So yes, the league needs to fix some stuff but there also needs to be a reflection from a lot of the clubs on how they do business.
     
    1 person likes this.
  3. fscat

    fscat Member

    May 2, 2005
    Chicago, IL
    Well it looks like the TV revenue situation will NOT be fixed anytime soon - when the moment had come for the clubs to stand up to Real Madrid and Barcelona, almost everyone backed down. Its pathetic - if nothing changes soon, La Liga will turn into the SPL, and interest will die down, as will the Big Two's competitiveness.
     
  4. Juanele

    Juanele Member+

    Aug 4, 1999
    Colorado, US
    Yep, read about that. A shame really. More than ever the league just serves Madrid and Barcelona.
     
  5. minuscapita

    minuscapita Member

    May 10, 2002
    Fremont, ca
    Club:
    Atletico Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Yes and until something is done about it the gap will continue to grow.
    That said.. look at the table this week. :D

    Malaga and Betis in the top 3!

    Its too bad this wont last more than 8 weeks.
     
  6. LuckyDay

    LuckyDay New Member

    Jul 6, 2011
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
  7. Pichi

    Pichi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Dec 17, 1999
    San Jose, CA
    Club:
    Real Betis
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Yes I have lost interest in the liga already especially since my Glorioso is currently alone on top of the table after 4 weeks! :rolleyes:

    Now maybe their matches will all be televised on GOLTV!

    Musho Beti Musho Lider Eh Eh y Europa Tiembla!!
     
  8. Juanele

    Juanele Member+

    Aug 4, 1999
    Colorado, US
    When will they play the makeup game from the first week? Hopefully they will televise Sevilla-Betis.
     
  9. Pichi

    Pichi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Dec 17, 1999
    San Jose, CA
    Club:
    Real Betis
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    21-22 January 2012.

    By then the Palanganas will be in the relegation zone and Er Glorioso fighting for a CL slot! :D

    Ese Beti Oe!!
     
  10. cfb21

    cfb21 Member

    Aug 28, 2011
    London
    No offence, but so far, Betis got tight wins over equipuchos de pacotilla such as Mallorca, Granada and Real Zaragoza and a lucky 3-2 victory over Athletic Bilbao who are not performing to their potential.

    Roque Santa Cruz is the only player in that whole team worth mentioning, Betis are no where near what they use to be.
     
  11. Pichi

    Pichi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Dec 17, 1999
    San Jose, CA
    Club:
    Real Betis
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Yes you are correct, we are now in Primera and in first place ahead of our dreaded cross town rivals who I will not name!

    The green and white will continue to march on as Pepe Mel said yesterday at the press conference one week at a time, Getafe is next then Levante at home then onwards to Chamartin and the Merengues await the arrival of Er Glorioso. 12 points is 12 points and at this stage of the season we'll take all we can.

    As for Santa Cruz he still needs about 3-4 weeks of conditioning under his belt as he clearly ran out of gas the last 20 minutes of the match and Mel couldn't sub him out since he had to use his last sub to get Goita in the match as keeper.

    Musho Beti Musho Lider Eh Eh!!
     
  12. Juanele

    Juanele Member+

    Aug 4, 1999
    Colorado, US

    Hehe, this trash talking is going to make your loss all the more sweeter :D
     
  13. Pichi

    Pichi Moderator
    Staff Member

    Dec 17, 1999
    San Jose, CA
    Club:
    Real Betis
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    The only question that needs to be answered by then will be whether Del Nido will be watching the game from the Presidents Box or a prison cell for his supposed wrong doings while acting as legal counsel for Gil y Gil in Marbella. If justice could speed up a bit maybe he and Lolo will be in the same cell watching the match!!

    Ese Beti Oe!
     
  14. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    The only thing that the SPL has over La Liga is longevity. In terms of the lack of competitiveness in recent years, La Liga has actually gotten worse than Scotland (based on points and goal difference of the top 2). :(
     
  15. Kampfschwein

    Kampfschwein Member

    Jan 3, 2011
    Club:
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I'm way more interested in say Ligue 1 than La Liga. Barca/Real are really ruining Spain's domestic game and benefiting from an unfair revenues model.

    That's why they're in my book evil.
     
  16. razingtonbear

    razingtonbear Member+

    Aug 8, 2007
    There are hardly any top leagues around Europe where there are more than 2 teams that will realistically win the league title, maybe a third will make a push. That can't be used as a reason as to why a league may be uncompetitive. If we want to talk about money and TV rights then fine, but even if there was a restructure, both Real Madrid and Barcelona would still attract the biggest names and the best players, and will always be winning the league and competing for it.

    What the others are really fighting for, is being a little more financially capable and then hopefully cementing themselves as a Champions League team and being capable of taking more points from the top teams during a season. Teams are already capable of that though if they go into games with the right game plan, willing to fight.
     
  17. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    I think you will find that most leagues have more than 2.

    England {Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea}
    Portugal {Sporting, Porto, Benfica, Braga}
    Netherlands {PSV, Ajax, Twente, AZ}
    Russia : several
    Italy {AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, Napoli}
    France: several
    Germany {Bayern, Schalke, Dortmund, Leverkusen, Bremen}

    I think that covers the top 8 leagues. Only La Liga is a 2-horse race.

    But perhaps more importantly, none of the favorites are getting 95-99 points every year. Man United might win most of the time, but they don't finish the season with 98 points and a plus 65,743 goal differential.
     
  18. razingtonbear

    razingtonbear Member+

    Aug 8, 2007
    Now tell me how many different teams have won the title in the past 5 years or so in the top leagues (by that I mean England, Spain, Italy, Germany & France, for example).

    It's all good saying these teams may challenge in my opinion, but looking at the winners in England, for example, you will see that it's basically Manchester United or Chelsea.

    As someone mentioned somewhere else, in Spain last season, the table from 8th down to 18th, was separated by around 8 points I believe. The league itself is very competitive, it just so happens that Real Madrid and Barcelona are currently by far the two best teams in the world. Naturally they will amass a very high number of points, and score a lot of goals. You can't currently judge a whole league based on those two teams, because they would do the same in any other league in the world, and in many, reach far greater totals.

    All I am saying is, many other leagues suffer the same outcome season after season, even the 'best league in the world' i.e the EPL, so if we want to judge a league, look at the whole picture, or discuss the financial differences as a separate entity. Two teams being realistically capable of winning a league is nothing new.
     
  19. Kampfschwein

    Kampfschwein Member

    Jan 3, 2011
    Club:
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Hm, odd you left out two recent champions:

    06/07 VfB Stuttgart
    08/09 VfL Wolfsburg

    Generally speaking, the Hamburger SV also has title aspirations and is something of a "sleeping giant". Clearly they've been struggling of late and are rebuilding their team, but they should be back as title contenders in coming years.

    So, there you have 8 clubs. And I could see other clubs winning as well - in an exceptional year.
     
  20. Kampfschwein

    Kampfschwein Member

    Jan 3, 2011
    Club:
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    In Germany, four different clubs:

    VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund and twice Bayern München.

    Also consider the semi-official Herbstmeister title (i.e. the table leader after half of the league games having been played):

    2010/2011
    Borussia Dortmund


    2009/2010
    Bayer 04 Leverkusen


    2008/2009
    1899 Hoffenheim


    2007/2008
    FC Bayern München


    2006/2007
    SV Werder Bremen




    I'd say that any team that manages to lead the table halfway through the season could in principle also win the title.

    So by that rationale, you can also hope for typically mid-table teams like Hoffenheim to win the championship.

    Who knows, Hoffenheim might have just pulled it off had it not been for a series of injuries....

    This is part of the beauty of the Bundesliga. You can dream. It's not all fallen prey to cynicism.
     
    MatthausSammer repped this.
  21. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    On the contrary, I think # of teams challenging for the title matters. As fans, we want a chance to dream (as the previous poster wrote).

    Things will always tend to be bunched-up in the middle to lower half of the table because the relegation/ promotion system constantly shifts clubs around so that clubs are placed in a league suited to how good they are.

    In any event it is difficult to get excited about the battle for 8th place in October, so I would argue that this feature is not enough to make La Liga interesting anyway, even if it was unique to La Liga which it isn't.

    True. It exists in Scotland. EPL also only had Arsenal and Man United just after the turn of the century. But even in 2003, which stands out as one of the more boring EPL seasons, the gap between Arsenal/Man United and the chasing pack wasn't quite as bad as La Liga is now.
     
  22. Kampfschwein

    Kampfschwein Member

    Jan 3, 2011
    Club:
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Indeed. Scotland is another case of extreme disparity between the two top-dogs and the rest.

    And look how Scottish football has declined! In no small measure because of this!

    La Liga's also suffering because of the extreme disparity. I heard this is hurting TV rights revenue.

    And let's not forget that half of Spain's clubs are effectively bankrupt. La Liga's not in a happy situation, with two clubs unfairly grabbing half the TV revenue for themselves. No other Big5 league allows that to happen.

    Sure, it allows Real and Barca to be the biggest clubs in the world. But at the expense of the rest of Spanish football. A most unhealthy situation, to put it mildly.
     
  23. JUAN-XAVIER

    JUAN-XAVIER Member

    Jul 23, 2009
    TEXAS
    Club:
    CF Rayados de Monterrey
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    I usually skim through hear every now and then and i found this particular conversation interesting. What is happening in Spain and what has happened in Scotland is devastating for the leagues economy. They are one side of the spectrum. Now on the very opposite side of the spectrum you only need to look at the Mexican league. The Teams there are extremely wealthy and are always looking to make changes in the off season. this makes a league that is extremely inconsistent. If anything it is consistently changing. A good example is club America. They are like what R. Madrid is but in the Mexican league. They are currently in the bottom half of the table. You would never expect that to happen in La Liga. I think the league needs to find a medium to save the itself.
     
  24. Kampfschwein

    Kampfschwein Member

    Jan 3, 2011
    Club:
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Frankly, I'd say overseas Barca/Real fans are part of the problem. You're supporting two parasitic clubs - and probably exacerbating the disparity by spending your money on such a club.

    Barca and Real have a lot of political power. And they've resisted a reasonably fair revenue distribution. They've sucked their domestic league dry and helped drive lesser clubs into bankruptcy.
     
  25. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Yup. The current situation is such a shame because only 7-8 years ago La Liga was the strongest league in the world. Not only the best, but it had more parity than England without the corruption of Italy. La Liga was easily the most attractive product to sell to football fans around the world, but ... wow! Did they ever drop the ball.
     

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