Gerard Piqué sees a difficult future for the two giants of Spanish football, Barça and Real Madrid. in which its partners would ultimately lose control of the companies and transform into Sports Joint Stock Companies (SAD) to remain competitive if a Super League was not established.
The former Barca international defender and businessman, along with other personalities such as the President of the Higher Sports Council (CSD) Víctor Francos, took part in the Business Sport Forum organized by Marca y Expansión and addressed topics such as the future of sport spectacle and as Industry, especially football.
Gerard Piqué was forceful when he declared: “Barça and Real Madrid will be forced to become sports public companies in three, five, seven years.” unless the current situation is regulated in such a way that all clubs have the same economic opportunities.
Conditioned by the champions
“If you’re just taking part in your national competition, it doesn’t matter because you regulate it the way you want and we all play by the same rules.” But When you play in an international competition, the Champions League, and the teams there are not subject to the same rules, you create this imbalance that Barça and Madrid… Why do they continue to compete? Because they are getting more and more indebted,” commented Gerard Piqué..
The former footballer and current president of Kosmos recalled: “Barça is pulling the levers, Madrid is also getting into debt… But.” In three, five, seven years there will come a point at which the club can no longer pay the interest on the debt. And you will be forced to make Barça a Sports Limited Company, and Madrid, which could take longer because it is in a slightly better financial position if it wants to continue competing in Europe, more of the same. Unless there is a Super League and financial fair play is regulated.
Support the Super League to denounce the imbalance
Piqué believes that the position of Barça and Madrid in relation to the Champions League and the Super League is shaped by this situation: “It is clear to me that Barcelona and Real Madrid are trying to show with the Super League that this situation cannot continue like this.” For Andorra, promotion to the first division means that they will no longer be seen by anyone. And if it increases, he will receive 50 or 60 million euros. Real Madrid and Barcelona earn 140 million and have infinitely more fans than Andorra. The line-up is very similar and in the long term all the big players in Europe want that to change.”
On the other hand, he also expressed his rejection of the competition format proposed by the Super League. “The Super League is a closed league and I am against it.” There are many who would be left out and teams like Betis, Aston Villa or Roma… their value would become zero. And you lose their supporters, the masses of which are brutal, because their clubs are almost doomed.” That doesn’t mean that Piqué doesn’t think a solution needs to be found. “If you reduce the calendar, you can compete more and better. I am against the Super League, but the calendar must be reduced.”
Reduce the calendar by reducing the leagues
In this sense, he assured that the number of teams in the national leagues should be reduced in order to adjust the calendar and allow them to coexist with international competitions. “It is not necessary to have 20 teams. A Spanish league would be just as strong with up to 12 teams. And so there would be a fairer distribution (of income), it would be more sensible.” Because for Gerard it is clear: “Without Barça and Madrid, Andorra would be worth nothing. The cake is not well distributed,” To the disadvantage of the two big players in La Liga, who cannot compete on an equal footing with the national clubs when they enter the transfer market.
Piqué advocated leaving the differences behind and moving in the same direction to find a model that benefits everyone and ensures the economic viability of Spanish clubs. “If there is a European competition and the clubs are not subject to the same rules, the Spanish clubs will have to go into debt to be able to compete with the others.”
Gerard cited as a reference the way the United States organizes and regulates its sports competitions. “They have a big advantage over us. Because they started managing their competitions this way. In fact, they were born that way. In Europe, all actors should come together to reach a common agreement and that is very difficult.” he concluded.