The Spanish football federation says it is suspending indefinitely all end-of-season games in disputes with
the government, including over TV rights. A federation statement (in Spanish) said it was also unhappy with receiving only 4.55% of pools revenue, though it said it was still open to dialogue.All matches will be suspended from 16 May, including the domestic cup final.In the top division, Barcelona lead La Liga rivals Real Madrid by two points, with only three games left to play.

'Players unhappy'

In the statement, the RFEF federation said it had acted after three months of talks with the government had failed to resolve the dispute. It said more than 600,000 players and 30,000 matches across the country would be affected by the suspension. However, it also stressed: "At the same time, and yet again, we reiterate the offer of dialogue to the Spanish government.

"The RFEF acted after the government last week approved a new law on collective bargaining for TV rights. The law - which still needs to be approved by parliament - aims to regulate the rights to broadcast matches in Spain's first and second divisions. The government has so far made no public comment on the federation's statement. "The initial assumption is that this move has been taken in an attempt to head off a players strike which had been threatened for that weekend," said Andy West, a Spanish football expert."Players are unhappy with some terms of the deal, including the low percentage of revenue on offer to lower league clubs.

"The issue of TV rights is a long-running one with most people recognising that barca and real receive far too much at the moment. Realigning it is not easy though," Mr West added.

from BBC

people have been sick of the special treatments received by both government's pets. now that their patience reach the limit, they finally act and fight for justice. may they succeed..

To sum up: Real and Barca receive way too high fees compare to the rest of La Liga. The new deal will distribute 50% of all TV money to 20 top flight teams. The other 50% are for those are better.

In the past Barca and Real can negotiate their own TV Copyrights, which made them earn 3 times as much as the rest. Not anymore.

There has been a strike, because the players are unhappy with how thing was done (also how Spanish Football Federation - RFEF was left out and only received like 4.5%)...

BUT, TV copyrights are something very subjective. Almost, anyone who is natural fan around the world would probably watch LA LIGA as: mostly/only Real or Barca games, and probably 3 or 4 games of the other 18 teams.

So in away it's business, those who attract more viewers should earn more. Calling them Government's pets doesnt make sense, beside the Government is the one who change this.

Life is not fair, deal with it.

Im not saying the old rules are good, BUT, I dont think the new rules are as good as people claim it to be.

This will never work out, stop trying to take money away from the big teams lol.

tuan_jinn, look at this thread http://footyroom.com/forum/football-talk/tv-rights-money-distribution-over-top-5-leagues-66917. i guess more natural football fan around the world watch cardiff city matches than atletico madrid who was in the champions league, no? but since this is already been discussed in that post, lets leave it there.

life is not fair, deal with it?? the late nelson mandela wouldnt want to agree on this my friend :)

anyway, lets see what will happen to la liga this season. this is interesting

Someone has to grow some balls and bann the team that refuse to play. Money distribution may not be "fair" but it is that way because of a reason. Teams receive money from TV because of how entertaining their football is, no one wants to see lower table teams play so why should they get payed more? Makes no sense to me.

@Tuanis

So you're saying that 20th place team in EPL deserves more money than Atletico Madrid or Valencia from La Liga because they're more "entertaining" than the two Spanish teams? Because that's the situation right now. Teams don't receive money from TV based on how entertaining they are. Teams receive money depending on how their league allows them to receive funds from TV rights, that's all.

They cant expect to have the distribution that EPL has. It is a different culture and different teams and a whole different system in which TV money gets to them. Not many people watch lower league La Liga teams so TV doesnt brodcast the games that offten or that globaly and in the end that is what pays.

Actually since the last agreement was signed, every spanish club has the rights to negotiate their own broadcasting rights deal while in England the league sells the tv rights of all 20 clubs to make a more even share of the tv money.

I dont see what is wrong with a team like QPR earning more than Sevilla or Malaga. EPL is way more comercial than La Liga. The last deal EPL had with Sky was worth around 5 billion Euros, so you cant expect to have similar earnings in both leagues. Also, it is illogical to think that the money the RM or Barcelona earn from TV could be relocated into other teams.

The problem is that TV networks deal with leagues and not individual teams, because if that would be the case then teams would earn waaaay less than they do right now.

What the RSFF wants is a little bit out of the ordinary and unrealistic.

From the 93% rights money allocated division I & II, 10% goes to division II ( Liga Adelante) teams while rest of the money will be distributed among 20 La Liga teams according to following formula.

50% Equal share for all 20 clubs in La Liga25% Merit money based on how the clubs finish in the table in last 3 years.25% According to resource generation ability of clubs