Big bucks for Real and Barça

Real Madrid and Barça remain La Liga's top draws and beIN Sports are willing to cough up €250m to show one of the big boys' matches every week.

This figure has emerged in the run-up to the bidding war for the new TV rights packages that are to go on the market following the recently passed Royal Decree governing the centralised sale of these rights.

beIN Sports, owned by Qatari news network Al Jazeera, are set to make a major play to get a slice of the action and are specifically interested in screening 20 Barcelona and Real Madrid games apiece in a premium slot. The possibility has been mooted during discussions of having these fixtures kick off at 18:15 on Saturday, which would be a strategic time in order to attract viewers in England.

The league and the interested broadcasters have been in ongoing contact over the last few days and hopes are high that the overall pie could be worth €1.25 billion, when the most optimistic forecasts until recently had stood at €1.05bn. The auction is expected to start in two weeks' time.

Despite the change in rules, 'Los Blancos' and 'Los Azulgranas' still stand to bank more than the other clubs and the €250m quoted above would come on top of what they bring in from other networks, both domestic and international.


Read more: Real Madrid: Big bucks for Real and Barça - MARCA.com (English version)