The RFEF puts Movistar Inter's sponsorship at risk
The war of the futsal writes another shameful chapter less than a month before the beginning of a competition for which there is neither a draw of the matchdays nor a COVID-19 protocol.
Andreu Camps, general secretary of the RFEF, has sent a statement to all futsal clubs announcing that they will proceed with the marketing of the TV rights for men's and women's futsal. In the letter he explains that the draft model contracts will be sent to the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) for a report. They go further by saying that "once we have received the report from the CNMC we will proceed with the call for tenders as provided for in the law".
Among the clubs that have left the National Indoor Football League (LNFS) is Movistar Inter. One of the pillars of Spanish indoor football since its creation and current league champion. Now the Madrid-based club is at a crossroads that commits it to its main sponsor. If the blue jersey and the "M" do not appear on television, a contract in force but expiring in 2021 would be in danger.
#Telefonica
The economic impact of Movistar Inter for Telefónica in the 2019-2020 season was more than 13.5 million euros according to data from Kantar Media, a company dedicated to measuring audiences, consumption and performance. An amount achieved after lifting the Super Cup, but without winning important titles such as the Spanish league, the Spanish Cup or the UEFA Futsal Cup. In previous years the return was much higher as the domestic and European futsal dominated.
The RFEF ignores the reality of futsal as it has shown by treating the sport as non-professional. Its attempt to sell rights threatens Movistar's impact on futsal as it tries to market something that clubs have sold to another operator until 2023 and for which they have already charged two annuities. Moreover, in the sale to Mediapro made by the LNFS, Movistar Inter was a member of the board of directors in the figure of its general director José Carlos Delgado. He resigned from the committee in July 2019 just before promoting the riot against the institution itself.
The club from Torrejón de Ardoz left the LNFS last July, but has yet to make public its resignation from the body it founded in 1989. The conditions of his contractual relationship with Movistar may be behind this silence. Jaén, Burela and Peñíscola, clubs that openly recognize the RFEF as a promoter of futsal competitions in Spain, have done so. The rest of the teams are still united around the figure of Javier Lozano. These clubs asked the Federation for adjustments to the calendar in order to face the beginning of the season with economic and health guarantees, but since Las Rozas they did not take into account their requests. The season will start on September 5th with a month full of matches that make travel logistics and anti COVID-19 protocols unfeasible.
The departure of the rebels from the LNFS means a media blackout for their sponsors, since neither Gol Television, LaLigaSportsTV, nor the regional ones will be able to broadcast their matches. The economic return would plummet and their sponsorship agreements would be in danger. Apart from incurring in a breach of contract that, like everything that surrounds indoor football lately, would end up in court.
Futsal is a time bomb in the hands of an inexperienced Federation and a few clubs that have been left alone in their fright. Rubiales is not capable of giving a safe roadmap for the COVID-19 and only the big teams like Movistar Inter -because of their budget- or Barça, Levante and Betis -because of their football club membership- could execute the tests in time and form.
The anomaly in futsal has reached such a point that the RFEF has refused to send referees for the friendly matches that the teams will play throughout the month of August. They do not want to get involved in a possible positive after the disastrous management of the PCR tests in the express play-offs that put the health of the sportsmen at risk, as El Español pointed out.
If the government of men's and women's futsal is already complicated, the pandemic we have been experiencing since March makes everything more difficult. The RFEF is doomed to be in conflict with the LNFS as it has been for the last 31 years so that the best futsal in the world remains in Spain.
