Real Madrid and Athletic lose lawsuit against La Liga over CVC deals | Economy

Defeat of Real Madrid and Athletic Club in the lawsuit against La Liga over the agreements with CVC Capital Partners. The Court of First Instance number 15 of Madrid rejected the lawsuit filed by the two clubs against the body chaired by Javier Tebas for signing a commercial operation with the fund to launch the so-called Plan Liga Impulso, sealed in December 2021. as it indicates According to the judgment, these agreements are based on a “strategic operation aimed at improving the competitiveness of professional clubs and leagues and maximizing revenues from the marketing of the audiovisual rights of their associates”.

El Real Madrid y el Athletic, junto al Fútbol Club Barcelona –que después setiró de la processo judicial, al igual que la Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF)–, que votaron contra de los acuerdos, acudieron a los tribunales poco después de that the LaLiga assembly will be green, considering that the transaction will be “illegal” and that it will cause an “irreparable perjury to all the Spanish football sector and will flagrantly harm the most basic principles of the current Spanish football and the propios statuses of the league”.

In this pact, the fund, which Javier de Jaime heads in Spain, has committed to injecting 1,929 million euros, of which 1,442 have already been paid. In exchange, CVC participates in an annual percentage, which can go up to 8.6%, of the audiovisual revenues generated by the competition. 38 of the 42 professional teams that were then part of the First and Second Division joined the plan.

The Court of First Instance number 15 of Madrid referred to the three causes of dispute raised by the wayward teams, knowing that the statutes of La Liga were not violated in relation to the lack of information; that the royal decree-law which regulates the regime of ownership of audiovisual rights was not violated during the general meeting; nor was the sports law violated by authorizing a restructuring of La Liga in violation of its statutes.

The resolution, dated February 19, indicates that the transaction with CVC complies with the legal and regulatory frameworks in force. In this sense, the judge excludes the violation of the statutes of La Liga, while recognizing the autonomy of the sports organization to manage and administer its commercial and audiovisual rights, provided that it is carried out within the existing legal framework, and therefore, to sign agreements that they consider beneficial for the group. The decision is not yet final, as it can be appealed to the Madrid Provincial Court and requires payment of procedural costs to Athletic Club and Real Madrid.

Excludes expropriation of rights

In this sense, the judge disagrees with the plaintiffs as to the existence of an expropriation or misappropriation of ownership of commercial rights. “The ownership of audiovisual rights does not prevent them (the clubs), but on the contrary, it allows them to dispose of them by adopting the agreements that they consider within the legal limits,” specifies the judgment. “For this same reason and with respect for property, the clubs which decide not to participate in the operation will obtain exactly the same net income distributed as they would have received if the expenses and income linked to the operation did not exist “not, that is to say the operation has no impact on the audiovisual rights of the applicants. The cost of the operation, specifies the resolution, is only passed on to those who adhere”, adds -he.

Concerning the level of knowledge of the operation, the judgment specifies that “the plaintiffs had at their disposal the necessary information to vote”, since La Liga offered the clubs to consult, in the offices of the organization, additional documentation on the operation. as well as the possibility of holding explanatory meetings to clarify questions that may arise. Likewise, the resolution establishes that the employer provided the professional teams with the contact details of the managers who managed the legal, tax, business plan, participatory and commercial files. In this way, the judge does not validate the allegation of the club chaired by Florentino Pérez and his ally in this case according to which they only received presentations of a commercial or informative nature, a legal report on some of the contracts and a draft of contract. .funding.

Finally, on the governance position of CVC in La Liga during the creation of a company (LGI) in which the National Professional Football League (LNFC) and CVC are partners and the existence of a monitoring committee provided for in the participation contract, the judge emphasizes that the fund “does not occupy any position in the governing and administrative bodies of the League and is also not a member of the association”. In other words, “the League retains the majority of the share capital of LGI and the right to appoint the majority of directors”.

Likewise, the judgment emphasizes that the monitoring committee regulated in the joint account contract cannot be understood as “interference in governance prohibited by law or statute”, since it is precisely intended to study the decisions of La Liga and their consequences, and in any case In this case it could only be a revision of the agreed economic conditions. “This would not affect the rights of the plaintiffs,” he concludes.

In a statement, LaLiga welcomed the judgment and highlighted that the court ratified “once again the legitimacy of the clubs’ agreement with CVC, which has the support of 44 signatory clubs, and allowed said clubs to project investments, without having to do so. public aid, which otherwise would have been unaffordable and which will accelerate the growth of clubs in 20 years in terms of investment, infrastructure, internationalization and professionalization, among others.

Follow all the information Five days In Facebook, X And Linkedinor in our newsletter Five-day program