LaLiga: Sports are a perishable product

Last season alone, LaLiga lost 400 million euros due to piracy, around 25% of the total tournament income, according to Carlos del Campo, deputy director to the presidency of LaLiga, who participated in the Sports Rights panel at the Intellectual Property Summit in Miami.

The panel also included Fátima González, legal manager of Conmebol; Emilio García Silvero, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer of FIFA; Víctor Roldán, Legal VP of 1190 Sports, and Óscar Sánchez, Director of Broadcast Operations, Executive Producer and Media Distribution of Concacaf.

García Silvero referred to the 2026 FIFA Men’s Soccer Cup, which will take place in three countries with a good tradition of sports production such as Mexico, the US, and Canada. “As in all previous Cups, the intention is for it to be the best in history. Our responsibility as owners of the tournament is to offer the best of the best.”

He added that FIFA prioritizes both the Men’s and Women’s Cups, which have been growing since 2019 and 2022, and, starting in 2025, also in the US, where the Club World Cup -the next tournament that FIFA – will launch. This tournament will include 32 teams from the six confederations playing in states on the east coast of the US.

All the panelists agreed that piracy activity affects the resources that sports rights holders and leagues can allocate to the development of the discipline, the maintenance of stadiums, the quality of production, and athletes, among other aspects, “to provide a premium product.”

“The soccer fan deserves to see a quality product. Soccer transforms everything. We have to find how to protect that income and provide the clubs with those resources to offer something good to their fans,” said Roldán from 1190 Sports.

Sánchez of Concacaf emphasized the responsibility they have in soccer development. He pointed out that they have just held the first edition of the women’s Gold Cup with a record audience. “We are addressing very strongly the issue of piracy. The money that our licensees cannot pay us, we cannot invest it in our tournament nor for the girls so they can continue developing in soccer.”

Silvero García highlighted that the immediacy and unpredictability of the sport are some of the elements that give it value. “No one pays for something they already know the results of.” Del Campo noted: “Sports are perishable.”