Athletic Club letter to LaLiga clubs

Athletic Club wishes to share with its members and supporters the communication it sent on Thursday, together with FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF, to the LaLiga clubs, the Government, the CSD, and the presidents of the RFEF and LaLiga.

This letter proposes a financing alternative to the one provided by LaLiga and CVC. It does not move Athletic Club away from the official position it expressed on August 12.

Sustainable Project: sensible and sustainable financing for clubs.

Dear clubs,

First of all, we would like to reiterate that we are fully aware of the financial difficulties that the Spanish football industry is going through. The Covid pandemic has had a dramatic impact on our activity, forcing us to close stadiums and suffer an unprecedented reduction in income from which we have not yet recovered. For that reason, we are convinced that Spanish football needs a sensible and sustainable financial solution that allows us all to recover normality and face the future with optimism. And in this letter we propose what we consider to be the best solution.

Before doing so, we would also like to remind you that since 1929 our clubs, together with all of you, have helped to build the history of LaLiga, which today is one of the world’s leading sporting competitions. Our commitment to the competition is beyond question.

We must also remind you that our clubs have maintained their association-based structures, and are therefore owned by their members -approximately 300,000 people-, all of whom have the right to speak and vote. They are clubs whose ownership and management pass from generation to generation, clubs which have never distributed any dividends nor have any economic purpose other than to provide their teams with the best possible resources to be competitive on the pitch.

From the perspective of our hundred-year-long commitment to Spanish football and its viability, our deepest opposition last August to the operation proposed by LaLiga with the private equity fund CVC, the so-called “LaLiga Impulse Project”, now reformulated in terms equally ruinous for Spanish football and, moreover, not exempt from serious irregularities (both in form and substance), must be understood.

Now, at this precise moment in history, when the global financial markets offer unique opportunities to finance long-term projects in a sustainable way, we have the duty to oppose an operation such as the one proposed by LaLiga with CVC, which, in economic terms, would be a burden for the future of our football.

CVC cannot be considered a strategic partner of Spanish football either, but rather, as everyone knows, a financial investor. Proof of this is that CVC, which has a small group of financial executives, is involved in a wide range of sectors in our economy such as energy, textiles, the food industry, telecommunications, catering and infrastructure, among others. Likewise, CVC’s management publicly announced their intention to withdraw themselves from the LaLiga Impulse Project within a maximum period of “8 to 10 years” and to transfer their position to another investor – and this despite the fact that the stake in the clubs would remain in force for 50 years. They are not a strategic partner, they are a financial investor.

And, as a financial investor, their proposal to “boost” Spanish football consists, essentially, of looking for and hiring specialists in the field to help LaLiga grow. It is obvious that LaLiga can – and must – make the necessary acquisitions to maximise its growth potential, but it must do so with its own means, without renouncing its independence, without losing full ownership of its business and without the clubs mortgaging their economic future.

On the other hand, we must not forget that Spanish clubs currently make up one of the most important sporting competitions in the world and, consequently, we have privileged access to very reasonable sources of financing in the global financial markets, under much more attractive conditions than those offered by venture capital funds. It would be irresponsible for us not to explore the feasibility of sensible and sustainable alternatives before taking any irreparable decisions.

Based on our – very recent – experience in financing operations in this sector, and after carrying out the appropriate preparatory work with our financial and legal advisors, we are in a position to present to Spanish football an alternative long-term, sustainable, sensible and legal financial solution for all, a “Sustainable Project”, which at least deserves to be duly explored:

• Sustainable Project would allow all LaLiga and Primera RFEF clubs to access the same capital offered by CVC, assuming infinitely better costs and terms.
• Sustainable Project would allow the operation to be structured with a real and total cost for the clubs of around 2.5%-3.0% per annum and for a maximum term of 25 years.
• The comparison of Sustainable Project with the terms of the proposal promoted by LaLiga with the CVC fund is simple:
  • based on the data provided by LaLiga in “Project LaLiga Impulse”, and always according to the terms of the so-called “base case”:- the total financial cost of Proyect LaLiga Impulse, which would be borne by Spanish clubs for 50 years, would amount to 13.1 billion euros, in exchange for a total investment by CVC of 2 billion euros (which, moreover, would not be paid on the first day, but in installments over 4 years), and
    – the total financial cost of Sustainable Project, which would be borne by Spanish clubs for 25 years, would amount to 900 million euros, in exchange for a total investment of 2.2 billion by the financers  (moreover, it would be paid in full to the clubs on the first year, without any installments); as a result, according to the “base case” presented by LaLiga and CVC, Sustainable Project would allow Spanish clubs to save 12.2 billion euros, being a proposal 15 times cheaper which, moreover, only includes commitments for 25 years, and not for 50.
• Sustainable Project also ensures compliance with applicable regulations and, in particular, with Royal Decree-Law 5/2015, as it is structured directly by the clubs without the direct participation of LaLiga. In this way: – the clubs’ direct ownerships of their audiovisual rights is not infringed, nor are the rights of any third party prejudiced; nor
  – does it employ accounting structures and concepts for artificial purposes (in which respect the proposal now put forward by LaLiga is even more irregular, if possible, than the one that was presented – and withdrawn – in August); and
  – no involvement in the management and governance of LaLiga is conferred to any entity outside the football world.

In conclusion, it is disconcerting that, given the existence of viable, reasonable and sustainable financial alternatives such as the one we present here, LaLiga has not promoted a competitive, open and transparent process with the aim of maximising financial conditions for all clubs. There is still time to do so.

We call on all actors and decision-makers in Spanish football to reflect. It is essential to act with common sense and explore all the available alternatives (such as the Sustainable Project proposed here or any other structure that yields similar benefits), in order to allow the clubs to solve their financial problems in a sensible and sustainable way, without incurring serious irregularities or burdening the future of Spanish football for half a century.

We place our experience and resources at your disposal so that, working together, we can bring Sustainable Project or any other operation that makes economic sense and respects the law to fruition.

Kindest regards,

Aitor Elizegi, Athletic Club
Joan Laporta, Futbol Club Barcelona
Florentino Pérez, Real Madrid Club de Fútbol