No surprises for me on this one considering what Spanish economy looks like right now. See article below: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=788913&sec=europe&cc=5901 Er Pichi
It's amazing to think how much more Real & Barca spend over everyone else, yet they are 2 of the only 3 that made a profit, while the other was relegated. I wonder to what level there are people in Spain complaining about both the gulf between Real/Barca & the rest as well as expressing concern about the debt. The professor says the league is in crisis, in part because only two teams can win the league. Is this how most Spaniards feel? Are there people in Spain who feel a change is needed that are in a position to make it happen?
The Wall Street Journal had this article regarding La Liga's debts and the impact that the new Liga rules and UEFA rules will play in the next couple of years on the insurmountable debts that Spanish clubs have taken on these past few years. By JONATHAN CLEGG Spanish football teams are shooting for a new goal: To break even. In an effort to tackle reckless spending and rising debts among the 20 La Liga clubs, the country's top teams will be subjected to financial regulation by a new independent body established by the Spanish government to ensure that teams are living within their means. Clubs won't be allowed to spend more than 70% or 75% of their income on player wages or transfer fees under new proposals from Jaime Lissavetzky, the country's secretary of state for sport, which are expected to come into force for the 2011-12 season and will include powers to exclude offenders from competition. "We have to learn from the subprime [mortgage crisis]," Mr. Lissavetzky said. "There will be an independent body that will allow clubs to take part in competitions according to the state of their accounts." The new controls come as the combined debts of Spain's top-flight clubs leapt to €3.53 billion ($4.37 billion), according to an academic study by José María Gay de Liébena, a professor at the University of Barcelona and an adviser to UEFA. Barcelona and Real Madrid, the country's two biggest clubs, and lowly Numancia were the only teams to post an operating profit for the 2008-09 season—the latest for which accounts are available. The salaries of star players such as Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo helped drive up labor costs for La Liga clubs to 85% of total operating income in that period. At several clubs, including perennial challengers Sevilla, Atlético Madrid and Valencia, spending on wages was significantly higher than the clubs' respective operating incomes. The combined La Liga debt for the previous season was €3.49 billion, Mr. Gay de Liébena's research showed. The findings raise serious questions over whether Spanish clubs can satisfy the "financial fair play" rules that UEFA is expected to implement at the start of the 2012-13 season which require all teams to be operating within their income in order to participate in European tournaments. "The situation in Spain is especially bad," said José-María Cruz, the vice-president of Sevilla. "There are six or seven of the 20 clubs in La Liga who are in bankruptcy or administration [a form of bankruptcy protection] through difficulties with social security and the tax authorities." The scale of economic instability in La Liga was underscored last week when Real Mallorca, which finished fifth in the league this season and only narrowly missed out on a berth in next year's UEFA Champions League, filed for voluntary administration in an attempt to regain control of its finances. Mallorca had an operating income of €28.1 million for the 2008-09 season, according to Mr. Gay de Liébena's study . The team had labor costs of €34.6 million, contributing to a pretax loss of €5.2 million. "Spanish football is in a very difficult situation, like our economy," Mr. Gay de Liébena said. "You can't spend more than you earn: This is the fundamental rule for economic survival." Against this unsteady backdrop, many of Spain's top-flight teams are clamoring for a change to the way television revenue is distributed. Leading football clubs rely heavily on the cash from broadcast companies to finance player acquisitions and pay the huge salaries of the sport's leading players, with television income accounting for 39% of top-division football teams' total revenue across Europe. But unlike the top leagues in England, France and Germany, where collective bargaining means television income is divided fairly evenly between each team, Spanish football allows its clubs to conduct their own negotiations. That means La Liga is running on the most uneven playing field of Europe's major leagues: In Germany, France and England, the richest clubs make between two and three times as much television income as the lowest-paid teams, according to sports-marketing research company Sport+Markt. In Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid—the world's wealthiest professional clubs—rake in more than double the broadcast revenue of Valencia, the country's third-placed team, and almost 19 times as much as minnows such as Xerez. Cash-strapped rival clubs are now pushing for a change to this system and earlier this month issued a request to the government to introduce legislation forcing La Liga teams to adopt collective bargaining for broadcast rights. But Mr. Lissavetzky says the government won't force teams to strike joint TV deals. "I don't think they want to see an interventionist government," he said. "There must be self-regulation, the clubs have to sit at a table and find the best model." Meanwhile, Barcelona is considering a request to RFEF, the Spanish Football Federation, to have next season's curtain-raiser, the Supercopa, played as a one-off match rather than over two legs as usual. The league champion, which will play Copa del Rey winner Sevilla in the game, is concerned that the early start will place an undue pressure on its players, many of whom will be involved in next month's World Cup in South Africa. "Based on the starting date of the league, it would be very difficult to fit in all competitions," said Joan Oliver, Barcelona's general manager. Er Pichi