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op Spanish LaLiga clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, have issued public statements critiquing the league’s proposed private equity deal with CVC Capital Partners, claiming there was not adequate consultation with Spanish clubs.

The private equity deal is worth a reported €2.7 billion (AUD$4.3 billion) and would see CVC acquire a 10% stake in a new company which includes all LaLiga businesses, subsidiaries, and joint ventures.

The deal would value LaLiga at €24.25 billion (AUD$38.7 billion), something Barcelona said was not accurate with the expected 50-year terms of the investment.

“FC Barcelona considers that the operation that has been announced has not been sufficiently discussed with the clubs (the owners of the TV rights); that the amount is not congruent with the years of duration, and the deal affects part of all clubs’ audiovisual rights for the next 50 years,” Barcelona said in a statement.

“FC Barcelona feels it is inappropriate to sign a half-century agreement given the uncertainties that always surround the football world.

“The terms of the contract that LaLiga is describing condemn FC Barcelona’s future with regard to broadcasting rights.

“FC Barcelona wished to express its surprise at an agreement driven by LaLiga in which the teams’ opinions, including those of FC Barcelona, have not been taken into account.

“There has not even been a presentation of options offered by other competitors in order to evaluate the pros and cons in a post-pandemic situation in which there are still many questions that are left unanswered,” the club said.

Real Madrid, in response to the agreement, said: “This agreement was reached without the involvement or knowledge of Real Madrid and today, for the first time, LaLiga has given us limited access to the terms of the agreement.”

“The clubs have signed over their audiovisual rights exclusively for their sale on a competitive basis for a period of three years.

“This agreement, by way of a misleading structure, expropriates 10.95% of the clubs’ audiovisual rights for the next 50 years, in breach of the law.

“This opportunistic fund is the same which tried and failed to reach similar agreements with the Italian and German leagues,” they said.