Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao take legal action against LaLiga by agreement with CVC

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao are to take legal action against LaLiga over a € 1.994 million venture capital deal that managers of elite Spanish soccer agreed to last week, the clubs said Wednesday.

All but five of the 42 clubs in the top two divisions signed CVC Capital Partners’ 1.94 billion (US $ 2.24 billion) investment deal, the first of its kind in Europe.

Four clubs, including the top-flight trio, opted out and one abstained.

The agreement was “an illegal transaction that causes irreparable damage to the entire Spanish football sector and that flagrantly violates the most elementary principles of Spanish sports law and LaLiga’s own statutes”Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic de Bilbao said in a statement announcing the legal action and published on their web pages.

The agreement, dubbed “LaLiga Boost”, buys CVC an 8.2% stake in a new company that will obtain the broadcasting income and sponsorship rights for 50 years.

It commits the clubs to allocate 70% of the funds to investments in new infrastructures and modernization projects. Up to 15% can be used to sign players, and the remaining 15% to reduce debt.

LaLiga said it confirmed the legality of the agreement.

“This decision by Real Madrid CF was a foreseeable reaction given the Club’s history of opposing it head-on and demanding any strategic project that represents an advance and a boost for the competition and its Clubs.”He said in a statement.

The CVC deal seemed at risk of being undone last week when Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao came up with an alternative proposal for JPMorgan, Bank of America and HSBC to jointly lend € 2 billion in exchange for a fixed annual payment. of 115 million euros over 25 years, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Barcelona and Real Madrid were also among the driving forces behind a failed plan to launch a separate European Super League earlier this year, and vowed to keep trying to create one.