Home ›› 05 Aug 2021 ›› Sport
Spain’s top football league announced Wednesday it has agreed in principle to sell 10 percent of its business to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for 2.7 billion euros, a welcome boost to clubs whose finances have taken a hit due to the pandemic.
The deal, the first of its type by a major European league, values La Liga at 24.2 billion euros and is due to be ratified by the La Liga and CVC boards later on Wednesday, a statement said.
It comes as Spanish clubs, like many across Europe, grapple with a huge drop in revenues as the pandemic forces matches to be played in empty stadiums.
“It is an ambitious investment plan which will give La Liga and its clubs the resources to continue the transformation into a global digital entertainment company, strengthen the competition and transform the experience for fans,” the league statement said.
“The operation will be carried out through the creation of a new company to which La Liga will transfer all its businesses, subsidiaries and joint ventures and in which CVC will hold a minority participation of 10 percent.”
Around 90 percent of the funds which CVC will invest will be channelled directly to La Liga’s clubs, including lower tier ones.
That will give Spanish clubs more room to sign new players. La Liga in 2013 introduced so-called financial “fair play” regulations setting a maximum amount of money each club can spend on players and coaching staff each season, conditioned by income which is down due to the pandemic.
A May report by European football governing body UEFA predicted the continent’s top-flight clubs are expected to suffer losses of more than eight billion euros due to the impact of the pandemic due to lower gate receipts, broadcast revenues and fewer sponsorship deals.
According to sports daily Marca, heavily indebted Barcelona could get 270 million euros as a result of the agreement with CVC while Real Madrid would collect 261 million euros.
The deal must also be approved by La Liga’s clubs, which have so far not reacted.
