MUMBAI: La Liga India head Jose Antonio Cachaza termed the league’s first-of-its-kind content deal with social media giants Facebook as a ‘success so far’ at a sports conference here recently. SportzPower was the first to report in July of the deal being valued at $4.5 million annually for the next four years.
Cachaza pointed out that India is the largest market for Facebook across the globe and as a result, the league has attracted 250 million viewers online so far. With more content delivered and La Liga mastering the technique of digital success, he revealed that the league has six digital community managers specifically for its India operations.
The La Liga earns $1.5 billion from broadcast rights domestically and internationally on aggregate, Cachaza had said at the India Football Forum 2018 organized and curated by SportzPower on 30 November.
To up the ante in terms of globalizing its operations, the league has eight international, regional branches with India given more focus than ever before. Whether domestic or international, broadcast rights holds the key for lower-ranked clubs in the league since 80-90% of their revenues come from it.
The La Liga head claims that the likes of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona no longer hold all the aces in earning the most from them courtesy a national law in Spain regarding renegotiation of the rights which ensures fairness. As a result, the two powerhouses have received a 10-15% increase in revenue from this component. Cachaza was previously the head of Malaga FC, one of the laggards of the La Liga, that now receives 50 million euros ($57 million) annually from broadcast rights itself vis-à-vis 20 million euros ($26.4 million) in 2012 when they first competed in the UEFA Champions League.
He also endorsed the concept of professional football leagues giving back to the society. La Liga has gone a step further and pledged $150 million which is 10% of the annual broadcast rights revenue earned, to other Olympic federations in Spain to develop sports. As a result, 2016 Olympic gold medallist in badminton, Carolina Marin and Winter Olympics 2018 bronze medallist Javier Fernandez are some of the popular non-footballers from the country that the La Liga is sponsoring.
This philosophy of the league also extends to its own sponsors and fans being their ‘partners for the long run’ and not just ‘clients’. The recent global IMG deal that La Liga had signed is a commitment to that.
When it comes to CSR in India, Cachaza considers the La Liga as a ‘supporter’ and not a catalyst of change since the latter is in the hands of government and local authorities as well as sports federations. He calls for more investment in creating or upgrading training facilities for football at all levels rather than building stadiums, which cost more and might not give the returns desired in the short run.
In order to facilitate healthy competition amongst children, the La Liga is expected to have four coaches from Spain being on a long-term basis in India to work on and mentor local trainers. The move is expected to attract more grassroots level participation where the child’s talent and not his or her financial status is said to be a differentiating factor in providing them with world-class coaching.
