From a new Sports Law to an Anti-Tebas law
There is a tradition at AS where we try and meet up almost every Monday for lunch with representatives from a sports federation (tennis, handball, rugby etc). It wasn't that long ago that we held an event with various parliamentary members as we looked at the new Sports Law which is being tabled. We also requested that former leading figures of the CSD (Supreme Sports Commission) offer their respective views on what could areas could improve or need to be added to this new law. To our surprise, no-one showed any concern as to what the government minister cited as "a monopoly"...the contract which LaLiga holds with a number of sports federations (they call it sponsorship) to offer their respective sports as a 'streaming' service.
Gap in the market
It wasn't so long ago that a number of federations paid Spanish state television network TVE so that their sports could receive air-time and I'm not sure that this is something the minister is aware of. The LaLiga initiative sees the federation in question securing visibility whilst promoting the LaLiga brand. It wasn't so long ago that I overheard someone say that Tebas, with his abrasive but also pushy personality is taking away some of the functions that used to be state-run. How can it be that LaLiga is resolving matters for a few or going even further, for some key federations? This is something that I've been asked about for the past few days and that answer is simple. Tebas is doing this as the government failed to do so. It's as simple as that.
Vision
Javier Tebas has done things that nobody attempted in the past, in general they are in the best interests for sport but wrangle with those at government level famed with their inability to react with agility. Tebas' actions also sit uneasily with the big egos in the Spanish game and in particular Florentino Perez. For Florentino, Spain is Real Madrid and Real Madrid is Spain, LaLiga are imposters and the VIP section at the Bernabéu is a place to schmooze with the likes of current Vice President Carmen Calvo and her ilk. It looks like we're going to be faced with a new Sports Law that is not thinking about the newt 25 years but one based on the phobias of the likes of Tebas, Florentino and Rubiales. It might be a good idea that current Minister of Culture and Sport of Spain, José Guirao avoids the VIP area of the Bernabéu for a while.