What Javier Tebas is not saying about La Liga & Catalan independence

The president of La Liga (LFP), Javier Tebas, has repeated that Barcelona would be excluded from the league in the case of an independent Catalonia. To be more exact, the Liga chief would expell all Catalan clubs "if the rebellion continues and, in the end, triumphs," as he said to beIN Sports recently. 

Tebas justified his criteria by saying that "I know that they (referring to Barcelona, Espanyol, Nàstic de Tarragona, Reus and Girona) would want to continue, but the Spanish law is what it is." One month before, he had used fear tactics to say that he believes "the Catalan league would be a little like the Dutch league and the rights via TV3 would not give Barcelona the same [money] that they get now. A great club would leave Europe." 

The president has not stopped making comments along this line. The problem is Tebas doesn't say everything. He keeps a lot of things quiet when he's talking about an independent Catalonia. In fact, La Liga would not come out of it well if they expelled all Catalan clubs. The absence of Barcelona would oblige the LFP to replan their whole economic structure. 

As soon as Barça leave the competition, La Liga would be obliged to renegotiate one by one all the contracts they have signed in relation to television rights. It's evident that the league would lose part of its attraction and all of the rights holders, national and international, would have to re-think the value of the contracts to their audiences. 

audiencEs

You only have to look at the official data from last season. Barcelona and Real Madrid walked away with 60 percent of the audience on an international level, while nationally both clubs accounted for 46 percent. The screen share of Spain's big two is miles ahead of the rest of the clubs. Both are almost equal partners in a 51 percent global audience share, while the third team on the list, Atletico, are at seven percent.  

The data puts in doubt the economic viability of La Liga without Barça's presence. Last season, for example, the clubs from Spain's top two divisions shared out 1.387 billion euros in telelvision rights, which globally earned 1.565 billion euros from the agreements signed  with various national and international companies (Movistar, BeIN Sports, Mediapro, Vodafone, Orange). America, for example, generated 212 million euros in rights. 

Does anyone believe that a championship without Barça would have as much global interest? The Clasico is a worldwide phenomenon. No operator is prepared to same as they pay now for a weakened competition. Without interest, there's no money. And Tebas knows that perfectly.