ABSTRACT
There are two distinct methods of organising the sale of TV rights. They can either be sold individually or collectively. In the Individual Sales Model (ISM) each club is responsible for selling the rights to broadcast its home games to the media providers in the market. The ISM was used in both La Liga in Spain and Primeira Liga in Portugal for the 2014-15 season. For example, Real Madrid and Barcelona sold the rights to their home games to TV production company Mediapro for approximately €150 million per year. The ISM was also used from 1999-2010 in Serie A. In the Collective Sales Model (CSM) the rights are sold jointly by the league, federation or national association on behalf of the teams involved. The CSM is currently used by the majority of the football leagues in Europe, including the EPL, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A. As previously stated, the EPL will receive just over £1.7 billion per season from BSkyB and BT Sport as a result of the deal negotiated for the period 2016-2019. This money is then distributed to the clubs using an agreed formula. In May 2015 the Spanish government announced that it was introducing a new law so that the CSM could be used for the rights to La Liga matches from 2016 onwards. Although the legislation was supported by the National Professional Football League (LFP), it was opposed by the Spanish Football Federation (SFF) and the Spanish players’ association (AFE) and nearly resulted in a strike.
