Daily Thread: 9 August 2022

The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!

Shoutout to the mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho!

Training in Full Swing for the Super Cup.

The team trained for first time this week at Real Madrid City as they continue to prepare for the European Super Cup, where they take on Eintracht Frankfurt at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki. The session kicked off with fitness work without the ball. The squad then focussed on possession and ball circulation before carrying out tactical work and set-pieces. The session ended with small-sided games and finishing. The team will depart for Helsinki on Tuesday.

Make La Liga better again?

While the debate will rage on on which is the better league football wise, there is no question which is the better marketed league. The EPL by far pulls in the most money of any of the top football leagues. So what can La Liga do to bridge this gap and market itself better?

Ensure a more equitable distribution of TV revenues - Real Madrid and Barcelona together took more than 20% of the 1.4Billion Euros distributed for La liga teams in 20/21 season. This is almost 3-4 times as much as clubs like Elche and Sociedad. On the other hand, the Premier League which rakes in almost double the income La Liga does ensures a far more even distribution of the proceeds with even the bottom clubs raking in in excess of 100million euros. This makes the league far more competitive while also taking away talent from other European leagues using financial muscle.

Negotiate better deals with sponsors and media companies - One would think that having had Cristiano and Messi for years would ensure that La Liga would be on prime TV. However that spot goes to the EPL as well. Los Blancos winning the UCL multiple times or Sevilla the Europa League hasn’t seemed to matter either. Even the recent naming deal with EA Sports that will bring in 30million euros a year seems to have been under negotiated. Tebas has to do better.

Change the kick off timings to suit Asian audiences - This might be a sticking point especially with the fans in Spain who are used to late kick offs, meaning post midnight kick offs for fans in Asia but this is something the EPL has used to great effect, attracting huge numbers of fans in Asia. Los Blancos and Barcelona already have a massive following in the Asian countries and need to capitalize on this by having earlier kick offs in Spain to directly compete with the EPL. Who knows you might even start to see large numbers of Atletico and Sevilla fans abroad as well.

Drama factor - This is just something I’m putting out there as an observation. While the football in the premier league might not be better in terms of quality it is certainly more dramatic. There are no easy games in the Premier League they say. Cold rainy night in Stoke and all that. Now whether it’s the commentary, the fans in the stadiums or other factors that add to this, I’ve no idea but this might be something worth exploring for the head honchos at La Liga.

Any other suggestions Madridistas?

ICYMI: Assessing Real Madrid’s sporting vision and transfer strategy

In this Managing Madrid Podcast, Kiyan and Jose analyze Real Madrid’s decision making regarding being conservative to reflecting on the Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic signings. Give it a listen.