The LFP at the Sportel Monaco Convention

Javier Tebas, chairman of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, took part in the Grimaldi Forum as part of '2014 Sportel Monaco', the world convention on sports media content which, in its 25th year, brought together a large number of experts in the fields of finance, media and sport. The LFP chairman took part in the talk entitled "European Football: Winning Media Strategies - The media rights strategies of Europe's top leagues". The speakers analysed the evolution and growth of the main markets in terms of television rights, including Spanish football along with the rest of the top European leagues. The sales and income distribution mechanisms were put to the debate, including the issue of whether leagues should negotiate collectively.

"In the 18 months that I have been president of La Liga, collective sales of television rights has been a fundamental part of the project". Javier Tebas stated that the LFP "has made an enormous effort to formulate an agreement that is fair to all the clubs by seeking the correct distribution of the profits. The new structure is, in fact, quite similar to the Italian model".

The general director of the Eredivisie, Frank Rutten, also favoured the collective model. "Since I have been at the Dutch league we have always sold the rights collectively. We believe it is the only way to do it". The general director of DFL Sports, Joerg Daubitzer, added that "in Germany there was a lot of debate in the late 90s. The conclusion was that the only way to build brand value was to allow all the clubs to benefit equally from the income".