Real Madrid to Sue La Liga, CVC Chiefs over Proposed $3.2 Bln Deal

La Liga President Javier Tebas poses before an online interview with Reuters at the La Liga headquarters in Madrid, Spain January 27, 2021. (Reuters)
La Liga President Javier Tebas poses before an online interview with Reuters at the La Liga headquarters in Madrid, Spain January 27, 2021. (Reuters)
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Real Madrid to Sue La Liga, CVC Chiefs over Proposed $3.2 Bln Deal

La Liga President Javier Tebas poses before an online interview with Reuters at the La Liga headquarters in Madrid, Spain January 27, 2021. (Reuters)
La Liga President Javier Tebas poses before an online interview with Reuters at the La Liga headquarters in Madrid, Spain January 27, 2021. (Reuters)

Real Madrid will launch civil and criminal lawsuits against La Liga president Javier Tebas and CVC Capital Partners' chief Javier de Jaime Guijarro over their proposed 2.7-billion-euro ($3.16 billion) deal, the Spanish club said on Tuesday.

Real Madrid also said they would pursue legal action to block approval of the planned deal, which is to be voted on by La Liga members.

The league said last week that the deal, called "Boost La Liga", would strengthen its clubs and give them funds to spend on new infrastructure and modernization projects as well as increasing how much they could spend on players' salaries.

Real and Barcelona, however, have fiercely opposed the deal as it gives CVC a 10% share in the league's future television rights.

Tebas responded to the statement with a message on Twitter in which he criticized Real president Florentino Perez for using "threatening methods".

CVC Capital Partners said "the legal action announcement is totally disproportionate and manifestly unfounded", adding that it reserved the right to take any available legal action to defend itself.

In a statement sent shortly after Real Madrid announced the legal action, CVC said it hoped La Liga's member clubs would approve the deal, which it described as "beneficial to all".

Barcelona president Joan Laporta last week said the deal was like "mortgaging the club's rights over the next half-century" and said he would reject it, even though it would have helped alleviate the Catalans' financial problems and allowed them to sign Lionel Messi, who has left Barca, to a new contract.

The Spanish league last week said it was not worried by legal moves from Real Madrid and that legal disputes between the two entities were common.



Number of Tennis Players Worldwide Goes Past 100 Million, Federation Says

Tennis - Davis Cup Finals - Final - Italy v Netherlands - Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena Arena, Malaga, Spain - November 24, 2024  Italy's Jannik Sinner during his singles match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor REUTERS/Jon Nazca
Tennis - Davis Cup Finals - Final - Italy v Netherlands - Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena Arena, Malaga, Spain - November 24, 2024 Italy's Jannik Sinner during his singles match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor REUTERS/Jon Nazca
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Number of Tennis Players Worldwide Goes Past 100 Million, Federation Says

Tennis - Davis Cup Finals - Final - Italy v Netherlands - Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena Arena, Malaga, Spain - November 24, 2024  Italy's Jannik Sinner during his singles match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor REUTERS/Jon Nazca
Tennis - Davis Cup Finals - Final - Italy v Netherlands - Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena Arena, Malaga, Spain - November 24, 2024 Italy's Jannik Sinner during his singles match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor REUTERS/Jon Nazca

The number of people who play tennis has surpassed 100 million worldwide, according to the International Tennis Federation.
A global report released by the federation on Thursday said that nearly 106 million people around the world played at least one game of tennis in the last year, an increase of 25% compared to 2019.
According to The Associated Press, the federation said it was on track to add 30 million players to the game since that report in 2019.
The total number of women who play tennis grew by 8%, but the proportion of female players decreased from 47% in 2019 to 40% now. The federation said there are 13% more coaches in general, and 24% are women, compared to 20% in 2019.
ITF tennis development director Luca Santilli said there was no “specific reason" for the decrease in the percentage of women players, but he expected that the increase in the number of female coaches was going to help make a “difference” in getting more women playing the game.