The domination of Barcelona and Real Madrid — 1-2 in La Liga, finalists for the Copa del Rey and Spain’s representatives in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League — comes down to one thing:television money.
Barca and Real earn about half the total income from television deals for Spanish soccer of around $852 million — which doesn’t include TV money earned from playing inthe Champions League.
According to a Sport+Markt study, Barca and Real earned almost 19 times more from TV than the smallest clubs in Spain’s top division — easily the biggest gap in themajor European leagues. In practice, this means Barca can afford to keep all the great stars it has developed and Real can buy anyone it wants on the transfer market.