MADRID: Spain’s top soccer clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona would get lucrative cash infusions under a proposed 2.7 billion euros ($3.2 billion) deal between the country’s top league and a private equity firm.
The deal sparked a bout of transfer speculation in local media, including that it could help finance eyecatching moves such as top France striker Kylian Mbappe joining Real Madrid, though La Liga said the funds would mostly be for investment purposes to which it would have to agree.
La Liga said on Wednesday it had agreed in principle a “multipronged” deal with CVC including the 2.7 billion euros cash infusion in return for 10 percent of its revenue, as well as the creation of a newly formed company housing a range of commercial activities in which CVC would also take a 10 percent stake.
The deal values La Liga at around 24.2 billion euros in total and, if approved, will fund what it called “structural improvements” while offsetting some of the immediate impact from COVID-19, the league said in a statement.
The cash influx would be particularly welcome to Real Madrid and Barcelona which have lately faced unfamiliar constraints on their spending power, but how much of it leaks out into transfer fees and player wages remains to be seen.
Local media reports suggested the injection could help Barca resolve star forward Lionel Messi’s contract situation, while it was also suggested that the cash could prove pivotal in Real’s reported pursuit of Paris St. Germain’s Mbappe.
Importantly the stake sale still requires approval from the league’s executive committee and clubs, whose views have not yet been given. La Liga said the funds would be distributed on the basis of a formula derived from average audiovisual revenues over the last seven years, when La Liga started commercializing rights as a collective — implying the top two would get the biggest chunks.
Barca declined to comment when contacted by Reuters about the deal. Real did not immediately respond to request for comment.
CVC was part of a consortium last year which entered talks to buy a stake in the media business of Italy’s top soccer league, but the deal fell through following objections from some clubs.
La Liga said some 90 percent of the funds raised will be channeled directly to clubs, which would have to use the cash to finance investment programs agreed with the league. It didn’t say how long the CVC deal would last.
Faced with the end of a cycle of rapid growth in the value of TV rights — and pummeled by a year of next to zero ticket sales due to restrictions on crowds — soccer leagues and clubs not just in Spain are scrambling to find alternative sources of revenue.
The failure of an attempt earlier this year by 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs to set up a breakaway Super League ratcheted up pressure on the top clubs.
Under the terms of the deal, La Liga would set up a new company to house commercial elements, such as sponsorship deals, the league’s technology arm La Liga Tech and their joint US venture — including plans to stage a league match in the United States — in which CVC would take a tenth.
It didn’t say what structural improvements it envisaged but these could relate to stadium and training facilities.
Management of the league’s sporting responsibilities and its audiovisual rights business would remain outside the scope of the transaction, La Liga said. “When it comes to the rights strategy and sales, this will continue to be handled by La Liga,” a spokesperson said.
With the boost from the investment, the Spanish league hopes to match or exceed the English Premier League’s business in the next six to seven years, a source close to La Liga added.
For CVC, which used to own Formula One, the deal would add to its interests in sport. It agreed in March to invest 365 million pounds for a share in rugby union’s Six Nations tournament, grouping France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Italy.
Spain’s top soccer clubs to get cash boost from $3.2 bln La Liga deal
https://arab.news/9b8uy
Spain’s top soccer clubs to get cash boost from $3.2 bln La Liga deal
- The deal sparked a bout of transfer speculation in local media as it could help finance eyecatching moves
- La Liga said on Wednesday it had agreed in principle a "multipronged" deal with CVC
It’s the US (and the US) against the world as the NBA All-Star Game tries yet another format
- 3 teams — veteran American All-Stars, younger US players, and a third representing the rest of the world — will play a round-robin tournament of 12-minute games Sunday, with the top two meeting again in the final
INGLEWOOD, California: The NBA is trying its fourth All-Star Game format in four years this weekend as it attempts once again to answer one of the bigger existential questions in professional basketball.
How do you get both the players and their fans to care about this midseason showcase?
The newest scheme appears to be the most promising yet, at least according to people like Victor Wembanyama who still believe this game should matter. A team of veteran American All-Stars, a team of younger US players and a third team representing the rest of the world will play a round-robin tournament of 12-minute games Sunday, with the top two meeting again in the final.
It’s bold and different, but will it make the All-Stars give more effort than they’ve provided in these glorified pickup games over the past two decades? And will this setup draw in TV viewers who are already in a nationalistic mood from watching the Winter Olympics?
“I think it definitely has a chance to, and the reason is simple, in my opinion,” Wembanyama said Saturday. “We’ve seen that many of the best players have been increasingly foreign players, so there is some pride on that side. I guess there is some pride also on the American side, which is normal. So I think anything that gets closer to representing a country brings up the pride.”
Others aren’t so sure, to put it bluntly.
“With the teams split up, you don’t really know who you’re playing with or what the score is,” Kawhi Leonard said. “I’d rather it just be East and West, and just go out there and compete and see what the outcome is. I don’t think a format can make you compete.”
“Yeah, it is what it is at this point,” Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards said with a smirk.
This new concept is debuting in the NBA’s newest arena: Intuit Dome, the futuristic $2 billion basketball shrine opened in 2024 by Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. All-Star Saturday featured Damian Lillard’s third career victory in the 3-Point Contest, followed by Miami’s Keshad Johnson winning the Slam Dunk Contest.
While the players got a welcome weekend in the Southern California sun, the league is optimistic they’ll also provide a more entertaining product on Sunday.
“I’ve had conversations with our guys ... and our guys are coming to play,” said Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, who will coach the younger American team. “They’re going to set a tone. I know that for sure, and I know that the group we have is a group of competitors. So I think the new format is going to help. It’s going to raise the level of competition and put some pride in the game, and then you’ll see the stars that are here being the best of themselves.”
The distinctions on these rosters are more than a bit fungible. The younger Americans’ team is called the “Stars,” and the older players are “Stripes,” but injury dropouts have blurred the lineups.
The World team has a powerhouse lineup with Wembanyama, Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic — but it also includes Norman Powell, a born-and-raised Californian who plays for Jamaica internationally, and Karl-Anthony Towns, a New Jersey native who represents his mother’s Dominican Republic.
The NBA has repeatedly changed its All-Star format in the past decade while the sport wrestles with declining interest from both television audiences and the players themselves. The NBA ditched the long-standing East vs. West conference battle in 2018 to allow captains to pick their teams for six seasons, only to go back to the East vs. West format for a year before introducing a four-team tournament last year in San Francisco.
That tournament drew decidedly mixed reactions while Stephen Curry won the MVP award in his home arena. The NBA liked the mini-tournament format enough to bring it back for another year but with the added twist of nominally dividing the players by nationality.
With this iteration, the league is hoping that national pride and novelty will lead to entertaining hoops — but injuries have taken a toll even before the ball is tipped.
Curry won’t be playing for only the third time in the past 13 years, while the World team will be without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, two former league MVPs. But Leonard will represent the hosts, while Luka Doncic and LeBron James will play despite injury concerns.
James is appearing in his record 21st All-Star Game after being selected for the 22nd time in his unprecedented 23-year career.
The changes could spark excitement, but they’re also a bit confusing to fans who grew up watching the East take on the West each winter. That includes Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham, who doesn’t think he’s really had the true All-Star experience yet.
“I grew up just wanting to be in the All-Star Game, (and) my only two years now, it’s been these different formats,” Cunningham said. “I would like to experience the East versus West. I want to be able to experience what all the greats played in, but I’m just playing the cards I was dealt. I’m sure it will come back eventually.”
