Broadcasters could withhold payments if Spanish football season ends prematurely, says expert

Sports rights specialist James Earl of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the Spanish government and football federation will put important commercial revenues for clubs at risk if a resolution is not found to their current dispute about how TV broadcasting revenue is shared.

The national football federation in Spain has announced the suspension of any further matches this season, starting from Saturday 16 May, in response to the Spanish government's plans to alter the way TV monies are distributed.

According to media reports, the Spanish government has backed a new law that would, once finalised and brought into force, require the rights to televise football matches from the top two divisions in Spain, as well as two national cup competitions, to be sold centrally, as is the case in England, and revenues from the central package distributed more evenly between competing clubs.

Spanish clubs can currently negotiate individual deals with broadcasters over the rights to show matches they are involved in. However, the government in Spain has said this model creates imbalance between clubs. Spain's top clubs, in particular Real Madrid and Barcelona, have been able to agree far more profitable broadcasting deals than rival clubs in the country.

Spain's football federation is opposed to the planned changes, but the body running the top two leagues in Spain, including La Liga in which the top clubs play, supports the reforms and is challenging the football federation's plans to suspend matches, according to a BBC report.

Earl said there could be an element of "bravado" being applied by the bodies in dispute. However, he said that if games are suspended for the season it is unclear how the final positions in the league table will be determined. He said that it could also see existing broadcasting partners bring forward claims for breach of contract.

"On the one hand, this looks like bravado from certain stakeholders, in order to seek a slightly better deal under the proposed central rights distribution model – there are various slices of income to be paid to the club federation and the players association among others – but these sums are apparently not agreed, or accepted by all concerned," Earl said.

"On the other hand, the situation creates a fundamentally unstable environment. For example, if no further games are played, will the league table stay as it is now? If it does, will the result be challenged? Is there some other scenario to work out finishing place, such as a count back system? A situation like this is unique and therefore has little precedent to follow and neither is there regulation to look at in order to work out the next step," he said.

"What is clear is that technically, the broadcasters could withhold payment if games are not played – whether they do that remains to be seen, and will depend of course on whether the strike does take place," Earl said "That is before you consider the wider implications with, for example, commercial partners and sponsors of La Liga and its clubs.”

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is currently investigating the way the Premier League in England sells the rights to broadcast games from its league in the UK following a complaint by Virgin Media.