Tebas Slams Piracy Critics: 'Spanish Football Not Overpriced at €45'
LaLiga president defends Spanish football pricing, tackles piracy issues, and fires back at Florentino Pérez over the Superliga and Negreira case
Tebas Defends LaLiga’s Value Proposition
Javier Tebas has come out swinging against critics who claim watching Spanish football costs an arm and a leg, insisting that compared to other European leagues, LaLiga offers proper value for money.
Speaking on Marc Vidal’s ‘Misión 2050’ podcast, the LaLiga president covered everything from piracy to the Superliga, but his most passionate defense came when discussing the cost of watching Spanish football.
“When you factor in Champions League access too, Spanish football really costs about €45. If you look at other countries, you’d be paying more than that,” Tebas explained, dismissing claims that Spain’s offering is overpriced.
He clarified that the higher figures often quoted (€80-90) include broadband and mobile services bundled with football packages - not just the football content itself.
Piracy: The Real Price Problem
Tebas flipped conventional wisdom on its head regarding piracy, arguing:
- Lower piracy rates would actually lead to lower prices, not higher ones
- More paying customers creates conditions for price reductions
- Recent anti-piracy measures have reduced illegal streaming by 60%
- For the first time in a decade, paid TV subscriptions are growing
He dismissed concerns about IP blocking affecting legitimate websites as overblown, saying most issues are quickly resolved, as happened when the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) site was temporarily blocked.
The Superliga Saga Continues
In classic Tebas style, he couldn’t resist a dig at Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, saying “Florentino’s still banging on about it” regarding the Superliga project.
According to Tebas, the Superliga would devastate domestic football economics:
“If you create a competition for just 40-50 clubs, the broadcasting rights pie doesn’t get bigger - it just gets divided differently. Your country’s football would suffer with a Superliga. LaLiga would earn half what it does now.”
The Negreira Case and Madrid Rivalry
Tebas saved his sharpest barbs for Pérez regarding the Negreira referee scandal, accusing Madrid’s president of theatrical posturing and suggesting his criticism of LaLiga’s handling of the case was disingenuous.
“Madrid’s president doesn’t know the half of it,” Tebas claimed, explaining that LaLiga was actually the first to take the case to prosecutors. He suggested Pérez’s strategy is to undermine LaLiga to strengthen his Superliga ambitions: “He wants a weak league to justify his projects.”
With these comments, the beef between Spanish football’s most powerful figures shows no sign of cooling off as we head into 2025.