Liga BBVA: "We need to impose a more rational model for the exploitation of TV rights" (J. Tebas)

"It's a very good contract," said Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish LFP, to the American sports channel ESPN, on 14/02/2015, following the sale of the 2016-2019 domestic audiovisual rights to the Premier League to the groups Sky and BT for £1.712bn (€2.3bn) per season -- an increase of 70.2% compared to the amount paid by the two groups for the 2013- 2016 cycle -- on 10/02/2015. "But you cannot compare the two countries. For a start, you have to look at the number of subscribers to football on pay-TV: in England it is around 15 million, in Spain it is closer to 4 million. We have not exploited football on television as well as we should have done, and that has arrested its growth", added Javier Tebas.

"Every weekend, 10 million more people are watching football on subscription channels (in the UK). We need to challenge that [...] We need to impose a more rational model for the exploitation of television rights. I think with that we can reach 8 or 9 million subscribers in the next four, five seasons if we do it right. We have to get closer to the figures that the Premier League…