Athletic Club, Barcelona and Real Madrid have submitted their CVC alternative to their La Liga counterparts.
La Liga’s CVC deal made plenty of headlines earlier this season with 17 of the 20 Primera clubs signing up for the agreement.
The agreement itself gave each club a considerable amount of cash – the majority of which has be spent on infrastructure – upfront in exchange for television revenues.
But three clubs rejected the offer, with Athletic Club, Barcelona and Real Madrid all deciding to reject the money and the deal.
In response, the three clubs, led by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, have put forward an alternative, named the ‘Sustainable Project’.
The alternative has offered clubs a loan at the rate of 2.5% -3.0% per year and with a 25-year agreement, rather than 50 years.
it is estimated that, in total, it will cost clubs €900million instead of €2billion, though, of course, it is important to remember that these figures are being provided by the people behind the Sustainable Project.
In total, the deal would reportedly cost La Liga clubs 15 times less than the CVC deal while, crucially, all audiovisual rights are protected, unlike the CVC deal, which offers up 10% for 50 years.
The deal would also guarantee that no entity outside of La Liga would have any management influence on the league with the deal, believed to be courtesy of JP Morgan, Merrill and HSBC, acting as a strict loan rather than an investment project.
Time will tell whether the remaining clubs will get behind this deal or whether they will stand by La Liga, and there is also a question of a potential penalty of withdrawing from the CVC deal for the 17 clubs that signed up.
Of course, if it does prove a move effective deal, it will be tempting, but there is more to it than just figures.
Clubs are well aware that Real Madrid chief Perez is the one behind these negotiations, and siding with him is a vote of power at a time when Perez is still trying to pull of a European Super League.
It would also be a huge blow to the power structure at La Liga if their efforts over this financing went out the window at this stage.
