by Andreas Vou (@AndreasVou89 )

The announcement of the English Premier League’s three year TV deal worth £5.13 billion ($7.88 billion) has come as a further reminder that the economic disparity in La Liga has to change or risk becoming an even less competitive league than it already is.

The problem has been known, criticized and discussed for some time but with no significant end result. Real Madrid and Barcelona earn disproportionately more than the rest of the teams in Spain’s top division. The reason is simple, too: Spanish top flight clubs negotiate their own TV deals while in England there is a centralized system by which all clubs are given an equal amount before bonuses.

This had led to Real Madrid and Barcelona earning over two thirds of the total TV revenue, each of them receiving €140 million ($160 million) per season while the lowest earners get just €18 million ($20.55 million). 

The consequences are there for all to see. In each of the five seasons prior to Atletico Madrid’s heroic title-winning campaign last year, Barcelona and Real Madrid occupied the two top spots in which an average of 18.2 points have separated third place from second place, and 28.6 points separating third from first.

Atletico’s league triumph was the first time since 2004 that another club other than the big two had won the league. Still, Atletico received a whopping €98 million ($110 million) less than Barça and Real in TV revenue.

Spanish league president Javier Tebas has been heavily criticized and calls for him to resign rang around a number of stadiums in the country over the past weekend. Tebas has long called for a centralization of TV rights distribution and earlier this month urged the country's secretary of state, Miguel Cardenal, to implement legislation which would make this happen. But his power in this debate is questionable after recent attempts to more fairly spread the wealth around the league have been blocked by a common adversary. 

Espanyol president Joan Collet came out with some strong comments about the situation in recent weeks and lays the blame largely on Real Madrid president Florentino Perez who he believes is responsible for this legislation on a new centralized distribution of rights not being signed.

Collet is not the only one to have pinpointed the blame on Perez in recent years. Former Sevilla president Jose Maria Del Nido led a meeting in September of 2011 with representatives of another eleven La Liga teams, including the likes of Atletico, Valencia and Villarreal, to discuss the economic disparity and attempt to reform the unfair distribution of TV revenue. 

The intention was for all clubs to unite in order to levy for a joint sale of the TV rights for all clubs, including Segunda sides but, after the meeting, was left frustrated as the rest of the teams seemed reluctant to make a deal that was not led by Perez. 

“Real Madrid had a strong reaction against Sevilla's position, a sign that they feel threatened and other clubs even apologized for having gone to the Sevilla meeting,” said the club’s vice president Jose Maria Cruz. 

Espanyol’s president stated the day after England’s TV deal was announced last week that, while local rivals Barcelona seemed keen to change the current structure, Real Madrid’s president has always been opposed.

"Barcelona agree with the fact that we should make changes but Real Madrid are not saying anything, and on more than one occasion Florentino Perez has said he is against it," Collet fumed. In the Premier League, the ratio between the team that makes the most TV money and the one that makes the least is about 1.5:1 while in La Liga it is currently 10:1. 

The lowest earning Premier League under the newly agreed deal stands to receive $152 million per season while in Spain they get under $17 million, compared with Real and Barça’s $160 million. The English mega-deal is also a big wake-up call for Real Madrid and Barcelona and it is something which has finally been noticed, it seems.

A stronger, more competitive league makes La Liga a far more sellable ‘product’ when it comes to selling rights abroad. Continuing in this way will inevitably lead to a decline in TV deals from foreign markets, at least that is what the league’s president believes.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Tebas admitted talks with Barcelona and Real, “We have explained to them the benefits of presenting a collective deal and shown them that, this (collective) way, the money they make will be greater” before adding that “collectively, we are stronger. In particular, in the international market”.

Last week, Real Madrid and Barcelona, were among the 40 of 41 Spanish clubs to vote in an attempt to pressure the country's secretary of state (Athletic Club the only exception), to implement the legislation as soon as possible.

Barça president Josep Bartomeu recently spoke of this concern in an interview with the Times, “Barcelona and Madrid sell (their rights) individually and we negotiate with a lot of success. That helps us to have as many of the best players in the world as possible. But we know the problem: the Premier League is very competitive. You never know who will win. In Spain, between 2004 and 2014 it has been just Barcelona and Madrid, mainly Barcelona.”

Real Madrid and Barcelona have each signed the Premier League player of the year of the last two seasons in Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez respectively but the rest of the clubs are continually inclined to sell their top players to survive. The recent January window was proof of this as Villarreal sold Gabriel Paulista to Arsenal and Eibar sold Raul Albentosa to Championship side Derby County.

While success in Europe continues for Spanish clubs, the situation in the league is dire and the statistics boldly demonstrate this decline. 

The top six highest point tallies in La Liga history have all come in the five seasons prior to last, three times apiece by Real and Barça while eight of the ten highest goal tallies of all time have been seen in the last six seasons, again, all by the big two. This is despite the fact that prior to the 1997/98 season, each team played 42 matches.

The Premier League’s latest deal is the result of a long-term plan which always looked out for the long term sustainability of the competition and all of its members. It could take a long while for La Liga to become anywhere near as competitive as England financially but it must start sooner than later or the consequences will be disastrous.