LaLiga President and KPMG comment upon Super League’s potential to end 100-year-long football tradition

The creation of a separatist and elitist league would mean the end of the European national leagues and a tradition more than a hundred years old, breaking the dream of millions of fans of national competitions in the process.

This was determined by LaLiga on December 3, 2022, during the presentation of the KPMG study on the potential economic damage that could be caused by the Super League and its impact on LaLiga and the professional football clubs in Spain.

LaLiga maintains that the creation of a league designed to enrich the biggest clubs and concentrate power among a small number of teams that already dominate European football would also lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and drastically reduce tax revenues for the public purse across the continent. Likewise, the political authorities of the European Union (in this case, the Council of Europe) have positioned themselves against the Super League, and the European Parliament has defended an open, democratic model based on meritocracy, supported by 87% of the votes.

Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga, stated:

“The format they are talking about is very detrimental to the national leagues, so they know that, if they explain it, the opposition to it will remain strong. Let’s hope the Super League doesn’t go ahead because it will destroy the local leagues and their supporters. We cannot allow football to be in the hands of the clubs with the most money, we have to find a balance.”

KPMG’s 2022 expert report estimates an overall revenue loss for LaLiga of up to 55%. Additionally, the loss of value for non-Super League clubs will be up to 64% — numbers that, as LaLiga determines, are similar to those of other top-tier national leagues across Europe.

The domestic leagues account for more than 70% of revenues in European football and are basic components in its economic and sporting ecosystem. The 40 European professional leagues and associations generate a total revenue of €25.73 billion, with €11 billion in audio-visual rights.

Among LaLiga’s main conclusions based on the data from the KPMG report, the following should be highlighted:

• The domestic leagues in each country are the engine of the industry, accounting for more than 70% of the value of football in Europe.
• The Super League would destroy Europe’s economic and sporting ecosystem, impacting the distribution of money between European clubs and federations.
• In the short term, there will be an economic vacuum from the domestic leagues in favour of the Super League, a model that in the medium term will lead to reduced revenues for its own clubs.
• There is a successful model in Europe with a balanced ecosystem, which has allowed the creation of a large industry that the Super League would completely destroy. Reforms must be made, but the Super League is not the solution.

Javier Tebas also said:

“We care about the rules of the court and what they say, but what matters most to us is the stability of our industry and if we have to fight for regulations that defend the stability of the European model we will do so. We do not want to be governed by those who have the most assets; we are more than the 20 richest clubs in football. We like models like the ones in Spain, LaLiga, where there is a distribution and we don’t do what the clubs with the most assets have.”

The Super League is proposing the same model it did in 2019:

In 2019, European football already rejected outright a Super League model with promotion and relegation between European competitions. This model is similar to the semi-closed model currently sought by the Super League. Access to European competitions must be maintained on sporting merit from domestic sporting competitions, otherwise it would mean, among other things, the disappearance of qualification on sporting merit and the disappearance of the chances of all clubs to qualify for European competition.

The Super League would lead to the destruction of LaLiga’s competitive balance and of the football industry:

According to analysis by LaLiga, the Super League would increase revenues by €400m for both Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona, who would also maintain their commercial capacity. This also means a 55% loss of revenue for the rest of the clubs in LaLiga by creating a less attractive domestic league and decreasing interest for Spanish fans.

In short, the big clubs will benefit to the detriment of the medium and small clubs. This will increase the gap, and the only beneficiaries will be the players of the top clubs, who represent only 5% of the players in LaLiga.

The Super League would also lead to the destruction of the industry: GDP, employment and taxes. The overall economic impact on broadcasting rights would reduce the relevance of domestic competitions by diluting the talent of top-level teams in the local leagues, increasing match congestion, with the possibility of moving domestic matches to midweek.