Today, in the Court of First Instance No. 15 of Madrid, The first judicial confrontation will take place between Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic against LaLiga and CVC for the Impulse Project. This is the agreement signed between First and Second Division clubs with the CVC investment fund for the next 50 years in exchange for receiving just under 2,000 million euros. The three opposition clubs have requested precautionary measures to stop said project. The Judge, who wanted to listen to all parties, will make the decision after this hearing.
This will be the first clash of several. Today’s is about the hearing for the precautionary measures that could suspend or not the agreement between LaLiga and CVC until the trial is held, in which the final decision will be made. In LaLiga there is a certain tranquility, as they assure AS, as there is a precedent that the judge refused to grant the very precautionary (without listening to the respondent), that the Impulso operation is designed with the support of relevant firms and that they have the green light from Brussels to carry out the agreement.
LaLiga Impulso was approved last December with 37 votes in favor, one abstention and four against in the Club Assembly. An agreement that unites CVC with the employers for the next 50 years, in which the clubs give up 9% of their television rights during that period in exchange for an economic injection of 1,994 million euros. Of this amount, the clubs have already received 698 million euros. The money from this agreement will be conditioned with the objective of making both the teams and LaLiga grow and thus increase their value internationally. 70% of the money should be used to improve infrastructure and brand development; 15% to pay debt and another 15% to player salaries and/or signings.
But what in LaLiga consider it a “strategic project created to promote growth of LaLiga and the clubs”, for Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic it is quite the opposite: “This is an illegal transaction that causes irreparable damage to the entire Spanish football sector and that flagrantly violates the most basic principles of Spanish sports law and the statutes of La Liga”. And for this reason they have decided to prosecute LaLiga Impulso. Although Tebas, in an interview with The Newspaper of Spain, showed calm: “Regarding the most important part of the challenge of Real Madrid and the other two clubs, which is the one referring to the violation of the Sports Law and the RD of 2015, the State Attorney has already said that it considers that It is not like this”. And she stressed that there is plan B if these injunctions are granted: “If there is a precautionary measure on the money that CVC has already given, what they have given us would be transformed into a loan until it is resolved. We have provided a safeguard in case it happens, because they have already given us 700 million euros that are already being invested.”
In addition to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic, the Spanish Football Federation requested at the beginning of February to be present in the judicial process, although the judge has not yet admitted the federal entity between the parties, which prevents them from attending today’s hearing. “The operation has led the RFEF to act in this way to protect its rights and those of non-professional clubs mainly; but also to prevent Spanish football from being conditioned for the next 50 years,” argued the RFEF in its request. And they add: “The RFEF shares the criteria of the three claimant clubs on this point and maintains that incalculable damage is caused to Spanish football, with only the League, together with the CVC fund, benefiting from this agreement. In addition, The Federation understands that the LNFP has taken advantage of the moment of economic weakness of the clubs in the current scenario and that it exceeds its powers with audiovisual rights.