Spanish League captains and La Liga players are said to be outraged about playing a regular season abroad in the United States of America and Canada.
According to report, the Captains of each team backed by their players were outraged about the decision reached by the Spanish League and La Liga management entering into an agreement to play games abroad without consulting them first.
The Spanish League players union are now saying NO to playing abroad since the agreement entered was without their consent, and will release a statement to back up this in due course.
The Spanish League body a few weeks ago announced it has entered into an agreement with an American brand to bring regular football games to North America, in the hope of expanding the La Liga franchise and bringing more money to the league that mostly rely on the signing of superstars for viewership and sponsorship deals in terms of television rights.
The Spanish League over the years, had settled their own television deals, which has a huge disparity in revenue and favours the big teams of Real Madrid and Barcelona, who year in year out, takes majority of the profits with other smaller teams settling for little. These two teams have dominated both in the domestic league and in Europe due to their financial strength which only few English Premier league teams can match.
Also, with Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Real Madrid to Serie A, it means much of the viewership enjoyed over his nine years spell in La Liga, would be reduced as sponsorship deals and television rights are now moving back to Serie A, as players now see Italy as the new football destination, all because of Ronaldo.
The other day, Real Madrid recorded one of its lowest crowd in nine years, when just 49,000 showed up for their game last weekend against Getafe, signalling what could follow in the coming years.
This and many more other reasons are what is making the La Liga outfit searching for an alternative means to bring more money to the league, by looking at the North American market where people are mostly not interested in football or soccer.
In order to bring everybody on the same page, the League authorities released a statement responding to the claims of the players’ union. Spanish League Footballers Union (AFE) said:
“The AFE and the players do not understand unilateral decisions,” said a statement published on Wednesday.
“surprised and indignant that their views were not taken into account in an agreement which affects them directly.”
“La Liga is distancing the fans from the players, which damages the spectacle and the essence of football,”
“The players again feel they are marginalised from decision-making (even though) they are the fundamental actors and their opinions are essential for the growth of Spanish League football.”
“The players demand that our opinions be heard and taken into account in any future negotiation or decision by La Liga which affects them.”
“The players are again being punished by the kick-off times of certain matches, which can damage their health because of the weather conditions or the lack of recovery time,” it said.
“The AFE points out that certain kick-off times can be harmful for everyone who is involved in the spectacle — players, fans and referees — whose health can be endangered.” They said.