Could LaLiga Impulso mean improved LaLiga squads? “The fruits will be visible in the medium term”
¿May be La Liga Momentum a project that stimulates Spanish clubs in the transfer market? Not in the short term, but in the medium and long term, teams have such hope. This is what follows from the answers Jose Maria del Nido CarrascoPresident of Seville Alfonso DiazGeneral Manager of Mallorca and David Guerraexecutive president of Sporting, at an event organized by La Liga to talk about the present and future of the project launched almost two years ago.
“Long term, we will always invest in what we see on the grass. The fruits of everything we do will be visible on the playing field in the medium term.. Moreover, if the clubs grow, this will lead to increased competition, television rights… And this will force us to invest in the “territory”, explains Alfonso Diaz, a person involved Up 43% this season thanks to LaLiga Impulso (A new stadium has just opened in Mallorca) and in the coming years we are talking about “more than 80% compared to the previous LaLiga Impulso.” The idea is that this growth in composition is noticeable, as they say, “in the medium term.”
Del Nido speaks in the same spirit. “The more you participate, the more you can invest. The ultimate goal of clubs is to win matches, and the more you participate, the more opportunities you have to access higher-priced players. Plus, as Alfonso says, if La Liga grows, La Liga’s revenue will also be higher thanks to television, and clubs will have greater economic potential. What fans love most is good teams.. If Sevilla now has access to players worth 10, 12 or 14 million euros, If I had a bigger budget, I would have access to players worth 30 million euros.“.
David Guerra, executive president of Sporting, gives insight into a slightly more modest team, one of the roosters of LaLiga Hypermotion. “We can’t put all the money into the grass, there is an investment in the player’s fees as well as the project and that’s where we try the best project for the player’s development. But of course, more income will influence better players“, he notes.
Improve the fan experience, provide more recreational options, food trucks… This is all very well, but Del Nido hits the nail on the head: Ultimately, the fan wants to have the best team to compete better.. And LaLiga Impulso cooperates in this thanks to better infrastructure, digitalization, internationalization, as well as investments in the youth system.
New stadiums
This is where new stadiums come into the picture. A large number of clubs have renovated or are planning to reform their stadiums or sports cities. Or they are going to make a new one, like Seville. Stadiums that will no longer be just fields where football matches are played every two weeks, but will also become a place of recreation for the entire city, events, concerts or various events.
Mallorca made its debut in the new match against Celta Son Moix. “This was the cornerstone of our project. LaLiga Impulso has succeeded in transforming a football stadium into a football stadium dedicated to fans and experiences. It was a stadium with an athletics track, a very chill atmosphere. On the most international island of Mallorca, no tourists came to our club. This affects the level of attendance, Revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships and food and beverage sales is already increasing. It will take us many years to reach this level of investment. and helped us by taking giant steps,” explains Alfonso Diaz.
Mallorca’s CEO talks about other areas of growth: “We have built the Sports City what it should be. And at the personnel level, it gave us the opportunity to take positions that we had never taken. We hired technology, marketing and brand. manager, we have strengthened our PR team… We have taken many steps to further grow. We have increased the number of our network subscribers sixfold.”
And he looks to the future: “It is important that our social mass becomes larger and larger. 5 years ago we had 8,000 subscribers, and now we have 20,000.. Keep training the players, keep teaching these young kids, and that comes through the investment and making the stadium a new space for the city. This is the motto with which we have worked these 18 months. This will force us to continue to grow. Provide daily social, cultural, entertainment and musical activities. It was a dead space and now we want it to become a reference space in Mallorca. This will allow us to generate more revenue and continue to grow, and we are going to reinvest that to continue to grow.“.
30 or 40 million more per season with Nuevo Pizjuan
Del Nido Carrasco also spoke about his new stadium, naming the new one Sánchez Pizjuan “Jewel of the Crown”. “We will go from a stadium with 43,000 spectators to a stadium with 55,000, from a stadium that is missing 2% of seats with VIP offers, to a new one with 10%, it will be used 365 days a year with businesses that do not . are related to football, it will be an indoor stadium. Investments will amount to 300-350 million euros., it will be demolished and rebuilt in the same place, because sustainable development is very important to us. We know that many fans come on foot or by public transport. That would be the jewel in the crown will allow us to increase from 30 to 40 million euros net in the coming seasons“.
What activities or businesses will be located in the new Pizjuan? “We requested a report and came to the conclusion that various non-football events, kindergartens, restaurants, outdoor terraces where you can eat, various types of hospitality, congresses … We were recommended different uses depending on the city we live in and the tastes of Sevillians.With. “We were asked to use the stadium 365 days a year.”
This vertigo is again a reference.
In the case of Sporting, they have for now decided to invest more in Mareo than in El Molinon, where they have also made some changes to improve the fan experience. But it is in the sports city that they are focusing on improvement to try to make it the benchmark again as it was decades ago. According to David Guerra, they have invested 10 million euros and can increase it to 14.
“For us, the Impulso plan meant becoming competitive again. We have the oldest stadium in Spanish football and the second oldest sports city, but it needed to be renovated. The changes at Mareo have been very profound,” explains Sporting’s executive president.
342 million of those that La Liga received but has not yet delivered to the clubs
Also present at the event was Jaime Blanco, director of the LaLiga club office, who provided some information about LaLiga Impulso. The employers’ association has already received 1.370 million out of 1900, which will be distributed among the clubs. Five of the six payments have already been made.The sixth will occur in June 2024. Of the 1.370 million that LaLiga received, it gave 75% to the clubs, 1.028 million.
And the rest? Those 342 million that have not yet been distributed? This may be because the club is waiting to see what it can be invested in, or because the club that is supposed to receive it has not provided adequate justification for receiving payment. Clubs must submit growth and development plans and, once approved, justifications must be provided to be able to deliver funds. If they don’t show up, La Liga won’t make the payment.. Rayo remains the only team that has yet to receive any payment from CVC for this latter reason.
“The goal of LaLiga Impulso is that clubs can grow in aspects such as internationalization, structures or digitalization in 4-5 years, and that they will grow in 20 years,” says Blanco.