“It’s not just that we are in favour of it but in the last three years Barcelona has been the club that has led the campaign in Spain for La Liga to sell its television rights as one,” says Barcelona club president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

“On an economic level Barça alone cannot compete with the Premier League, it is La Liga that has to compete with the Premier League. So we get together and push this new format, with the principal objective being to increase the number of [pay-per-view] subscribers.

“In England there are about 14 or 15m, in Spain it’s only 2.5m. The strength of a league is not just in the star players it has, but in the number of people willing to pay to watch it.”

The idea is that a stronger Liga will eventually sell for more. And a stronger Liga will only come if the other clubs are allowed to grow.