Spain's Pitch for Soccer Dominance

Stars, World Titles and Lavish Spending Push La Liga to the Fore; Can England Keep Up?
By GABRIELE MARCOTTI

As the UEFA Champions League, soccer's top club tournament, kicked off its group stage this week, all eyes were on two teams, both Spanish: Barcelona, the defending champion, and its arch-rival, Real Madrid, who this summer went on an unprecedented spending spree for some of the world's best players.
In the never-ending debate over which nation boasts the best domestic league, events in the past four months have led many to suggest the balance has tipped decisively towards Spain's La Liga at the expense of England's Premier League.

Barcelona won the Champions League last May and added Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to an already fearsome lineup that includes Argentine star Lionel Messi and Spanish national team vice captain Xavi Hernández. But it was Real Madrid that grabbed the headlines last summer, shattering the world transfer record twice within a few days to acquire the Brazilian star Kaká from AC Milan for $89 million and the Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for $131 million.

The club made a further outlay of $140 million on another five players including striker Karim Benzema from Lyon and midfielder Xabi Alonso from Liverpool bringing the total to around $360 million and making this easily the most expensive squad ever assembled. Real Madrid beat Zurich 5-2 in Tuesday's Champions League match.

It wasn't just the amount of money spent that represents a watershed in the game. It was the fact that Real Madrid knocked on the doors of its biggest rivals and forced them to give up their biggest stars. Imagine the Washington Redskins picking up Tom Brady from the New England Patriots, DeMarcus Ware from the Dallas Cowboys, Adrian Peterson from the Minnesota Vikings and Asante Samuel from the Philadelphia Eagles and you begin to get the picture.

The man who made this happen, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, has had the media camped out on his doorstep since he was elected to the post on June 1 which is pretty much the way he likes it.

This is Mr. Pérez's second stint in the office. In the first, between 2000 and 2006, he regularly showed what a combination of showmanship, dream-peddling and cold, hard cash can do. He made a habit of signing the best player available year after year, often at great expense, and sold the notion that you could build a great team with half a dozen superstars and a supporting cast of cheap youngsters. Eventually the club's lack of depth became telling, and he resigned in 2006.

This time Mr. Pérez's heavy spending includes some less glamorous workmanlike players such as Raul Albiol, a defender acquired from Valencia for $21 million.

Whether it works on the pitch, Real's spending coupled with Barcelona's response has given La Liga a stronger aura of glamour. "I think the other teams would understand if I said that the two most important leagues are the Spanish league and the Premier League," Mr. Pérez says. "For many years, the emphasis was on the Italian league. It's true that the Premier League has acquired a greater role in the past few years. But I'd say the Spanish league has always been in there, fighting."
Highest Grossing Clubs

Mr. Pérez has a gift for turning non-events into world-wide media phenomena, whether it be Mr. Ronaldo's July unveiling at the club's Santiago Bernabeu stadium (with 80,000 supporters showing up to watch him say a few words) or the news that Mr. Ronaldo and Kaká had both spent more than $300,000 to rent personal boxes at the Bernabeu. Putting a dollar figure on all this is difficult, but these spectacles clearly add to the sense that what happens at Real really, really matters.

Liga enthusiasts will point out that it's not just about glitz. Even before this summer, Real and Barcelona were the world's No. 1 and No. 3 highest grossing clubs, according to the "Football Money League" report compiled annually by Deloitte and Touche. Seven of the top nine vote-getters for the Ballon d'Or award (European soccer's MVP) now ply their trade in Spain, and the Spanish national team is the reigning European champion. "We're happy with the level of play in Spain which, in my view, is where you best combine skill with physical play," Mr. Pérez said.

What that says about the strength of La Liga as a whole, or whether its top-heavy business model is sustainable over time, is a different matter. Barcelona and Real Madrid dominate media attention and fan interest in the league, not just domestically, but worldwide. This is reflected in their TV contracts, as, in Spain, clubs negotiate their own rights deals. Both clubs earn in excess of $125 million per season, a figure which, last year, was more than seventeen times higher that of the smallest club, Numancia.

England's Premier League has gone for a more equitable approach, the "rising-tide-lifts-all-ships" philosophy long pushed by American leagues like the NFL. Manchester United England's defending champions, who defeated Turkey's Besiktas 1-0 in Champions League play Tuesday received the highest broadcast and sponsorship payout last season, but it was a comparatively paltry $85.7 million.
Sharing the Spoils

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore says the league distributes its broadcast and sponsorship income so the ratio between the top and bottom teams is never more than 1.6 to 1. "In Spain, Italy and even France it is many times higher," he says. The league helps its top clubs compete with European rivals, he says, "whilst allowing the others in our competition to compete with them."

English clubs have dominated the Champions League, supplying nine of the 12 semifinalists in the past three seasons. Globally, the Premier League's popularity has been unrivaled. "Our model works for us," Mr. Scudamore says.

On Tuesday, UEFA's Executive Committee ratified a "Financial Fair Play" proposal which will explore ways to prevent indebted clubs from competing in European competitions starting in 2012.

In any event, the next Champions League final, which will be held at the Bernabeu in May, should tell us which league has the edge on the pitch and quite possibly, which model is the best for promoting a league.
—Thomas Catan contributed to this article.