La Liga: A change gon’ come?

As emphatic as it was, there was something eminently unwatchable about Real Madrid’s opening day 6-0 win over Real Zaragoza. It was unsettling. Too brutal. Too one-sided. Like watching Manny Pacquiao batter Ricky Hatton – if the fight had been made to go all twelve rounds no matter how badly Pacquiao bloodied his opponent. Somewhere between Madrid’s second and third goals the veil lifted. No longer were we watching a very good side dismantle a fairly good but ultimately lesser one. As the fourth, fifth and sixth goals flew in it became obvious. We were watching a very good side beat one significantly worse.

If it was just about passable to write off such a thrashing as an opening day anomaly, that notion was dispelled the very next day when Barcelona took on Spain’s fourth best side, Villarreal, and destroyed them 5-0. By Monday night on matchday one of a new season, Barcelona and Real Madrid had racked up an 11-0 aggregate lead against the rest of La Liga.

Last season aficionados of Spanish football could merely write off the numerous thrashings dished out by the big two by using them as pointers of what impressive football teams Real Madrid and Barça are. The two best teams in Europe, some argued. Barcelona won 6 of their 38 league games by a four-goal margin or higher; Real Madrid 7 of 38 by the same margin. Real won 12 of their 38 games by a three-goal margin, Barça 13 of 38.

With early 6-0 and a 5-0 victories though, the start of the 2011/12 season in Spain brought with it an impending dread that pummellings of three, four, five and even six-goal margins could become weekly occurrences. Consider that last season Real Zaragoza v Real Madrid and Barcelona v Villarreal both ended 3-1 in favour of the big two, and that Barça 3-1 Villarreal was one of the most exciting, competitive and watchable games of the season.

This impending dread in Spain has fast manifested itself into what is becoming an increasingly public fallout. Panic can make a man do strange things, and the bubbling bubbling bubbling of tension beneath the surface of Spanish football’s top flight finally erupted courtesy of José María del Nido, Sevilla’s president.

“But by God, is there any fan who does not say the league is prostituted, adulterated, corrupted?” Del Nido commented on Spanish radio. “Revenues are making the big get bigger and others smaller. Our league is not only the biggest crap in Europe but worldwide.” “It is a third-world league in which two clubs subtract money from the television revenues for which we compete,” del Nido raged against la maquina of big-two dominance.

“I would like to know the number of viewers who were in the Zaragoza-Real Madrid in the 30th minute of the second half. And the sponsors have to watch this. Coca-Cola should not pay for a game in which the outcome is rigged. We denigrate the Spanish league.”

The reaction in Spain was mixed. In an online poll, highly-respected Spanish magazine Don Balon asked it’s readers “if we really do have a piece of crap of a league.” 61% voted yes. Tennis phenom Rafael Nadal stated he would prefer “more competition and between more teams.” Villarreal president Fernando Roig also waded in. “We either change, or we kill Spanish football.”

Though the level of frenzy may vary in each comment, the situation in Spain does appear precarious and in need of deep reflection.

Two of the pups have been fed so much there is almost no room in the kennel for the other eighteen to breathe. Through their huge fanbases, regular Champions League football and vastly bloated, individually-negotiated TV deals, Real Madrid and Barcelona have outgrown their environment.

While it would be unfair to castigate the pair on the first two points – gaining appeal and success must first be earned -  there can be accusations of selfishness on point three.

The uneven distribution of revenue from TV rights only further unbalances an already-cocked dice. In 2009/10, top-flight Spanish football clubs made a total of €602.2 million Euros from the sale of TV broadcast rights for the league. Of that amount, Real Madrid and Barcelona made €280 million Euros – 46.5% of the total amount. The €140 million each club made is over three times the amount made by the 3rd and 4th clubs on the list – Valencia and Atletico Madrid – who each earned €42 million for the same season.

And the further down you go the worse the contrast gets, until you reach the bottom clubs – Malaga, Tenerife, Sporting Gijon and Xerez – and realise that the €12 mllion Euros in TV broadcast rights they each made is nearly 12 times less than Barcelona and Real Madrid.

All of this merely entrenches the gap between rich and poor, the haves and the have-nots.

As is so often the case, those who have are also extremely reluctant to give any of their vast riches up. “FC Barcelona’s position is radically and absolutely against the collective sale of TV rights,” affirmed Joan Oliver, Barcelona’s general director when pressed on the subject in 2010. Both Real and Barça have multi-million Euro TV deals with Mediapro. The thought of giving up a slice of the pie to those less fortunate is apparently one neither wishes to contemplate.

The disparity in revenues is having a clear knock-on effect on both the quality and competitiveness of La Liga. Runners-up Real Madrid finished 21 and 25 points ahead of 3rd place in the last two seasons, while several top players at clubs outside the big two have moved on to pastures new. Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Diego Forlan, Luis Fabiano, Juan Mata and David de Gea have all left Spain, and those of a certain calibre that do stick around invariably levitate to the top. David Villa and Sergio Canales two cases in point.

With a players’ strike already delaying the start of the new season and a bitter dispute now threatening the league’s harmony, what does the future hold? Del Nido has since called a meeting at the Sánchez Pizjuán at which clubs will discuss that very subject. 15 have accepted the invitation. All in the top division were invited. Except Real Madrid and Barcelona.”This is a grassroots uprising like the French Revolution,” del Nido told reporters.

The situation looks to be reaching its denouement. Things cannot carry on as they are. A consensus is emerging. Real Madrid and Barcelona need the other eighteen teams as much as the eighteen teams need them. As classic a clasíco as it is, when the rivals faced each other four times in eighteen days, Spanish football came close to swallowing itself whole with hysteria. Without the rest, there can be no best.

When del Nido’s original comments were put to Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, he bristled, before having this to say to his former president. “If he doesn’t like this league perhaps he should find another one.”

Be careful what you wish for.

FC Barcelona, Football and Finance, Real Madrid, Spanish Primera Division