30 Years of SAD: When Soccer Teams Became Companies

• Foreign investment: many whims, lost millions and some success stories

1989.

First and Second

Clubs

had a debt of 28,600 million pesetas of which almost 16,000 were owed to the

and

.

The socialist government of

had already come to the rescue with a sanitation plan in 1985 but believes it necessary to take another step to establish administrative, tax and social control in the clubs.

The path he finds is in a change of legal form. On October 15, 1990 the

is approved

that forced entities that participate in official professional competitions to become companies.

The

and, with them, the great step towards the commercialization of football: the condition of partner disappeared, with the right to vote to elect its leaders, and that of

, with an alleged limitation in the concentration of power (nobody could have more than 1% of the capital) that was avoided from the beginning and has been diluted over the decades until having

owners, national or foreign

, who own 90% of the shares of some clubs. The rule gave a term until June 30, 1992 for the transformation of the First and Second teams that had given losses in any year since 1985. That exception allowed

,

,

Y

remain sports clubs.

To the

, the descent to Second in 86 made him lose and condemned him to, like the rest, raise a capital equivalent to 50% of the expenses of the last three years, distributed in a number of shares equal to that of partners and with a maximum price of 10,000 pesetas (60 euros).

From Gil to Ruiz de Lopera

Not all made it.

The first victims were the

Real Murcia

and the

Malaga

, sentenced to Second B for not having subscribed the required share capital.

To the

Athletic

saved him

Jesus Gil

with a controversial endorsement that he later withdrew and ended up in court.

To the

Betis

, in second,

Ruiz de Lopera

the last day of the term and to Cádiz, its city council.The clubs began to have owners and many boards of directors, such as that of the

Seville

of

Luis Cuervas

, they were guaranteed, with complaints of irregularities, that their environment acquired a sufficient package that would allow them to govern. "We never thought it was a miracle solution, but the situation of the clubs was regrettable and there was no one responsible for the management," he explains

Javier Gomez Navarro

, Secretary of State for Sports between 1987 and 1993. «What we are trying to do is create a system of responsibility that significantly improved management, although not completely.

Now people know who to blame, as in

Malaga

", He exemplifies." The figure of the SAD already existed throughout the world and was approved unanimously in Congress.

The club presidents didn't like it, because they had to put money in, even

Jesus Gil

he threatened to oppose it, but he did not, "recalls Gómez Navarro, who even today," although everything can be improved, does not see any other alternative. The former secretary of state does not believe that the Law would strike down the club's governance partner.

“They had the opportunity to buy shares.

Some even sold them later.

If today they have lost participation, it is their responsibility, but they will always be able to exercise their rights by pooling 5% of the capital ", he recalls. The appearance of the SAD, adjusted to commercial legislation, which did not always fit with sport, has landed on the football figures such as capital increases, bankruptcy proceedings and, in the last year, the Employment Regulation Records (ERE).

The big question is whether he has fulfilled the intended intention to clean up football.

LaLiga control more effective

A few years later, the income from

television

, the brick boom, with the sale of the stadiums, but the debts were not reduced until the

UEFA

and the

LFP

they imposed their financial control and executed sanctions and demotions.

"There has been a paradox: now the clubs that are not SAD are the ones that comply the most, because the managers risk the personal guarantee of 15% of the budget that they have to deposit in the League and that is executed if there are losses," he explains a former club manager.

"Look why Barcelona is applying salary cuts or Real Madrid does not sign. Nobody is risking their personal assets," he insists.

In the case of the main shareholders, in some cases they have led their clubs to dissolution without the small shareholders having the power to prevent it. This reflection led the Government in the last legislature to draft a draft of the Sports Law where the obligation from being SAD it disappears, because the alleged control that guided its creation is already exercised by the professional leagues.

The answer: popular shareholding

One of the main consequences of the commodification has been the sale to foreign investors.

"We did not have that suspicion, we did not care who the owner was," recalls Gómez Navarro. Those who did matter were the fans, who for a time were intoxicated by the arrival of owners willing to enlarge the team but who open their eyes when those owners disappear or abandon the investment. As a response, popular shareholder or popular soccer clubs have proliferated.

In Spain there are already 16 who have opted for this formula that limits ownership to one share and one vote.

“It can be capitalized cooperatively, without having to sell governance, because clubs are social backbones and create identity.

The legislator in 1990 forgot about that and turned us into clients of hypertrophied football, "he explains.

Emilio Abejon

, general secretary of the

Federation of Shareholders and Partners of Spanish Soccer

(Faspe). "The law could have had good intentions, but it did not even end the debt problem, multiplied in the following decade, and it has ended up extirpating the participation of the hobbies, which involved and informed can be a balancing factor in what economic and can make clubs reorient towards the communities they belong to, "he says. Instead, Faspe sees" opaquely managed dominant investors "capable of offshoring clubs and pursuing only profitability.

The proposal of this federation, which was given a voice in the drafting of the draft Sports Law that was paralyzed by the pandemic, was to introduce corrective elements so that "the commercial logic that guides the SAD does not go against the general interest ".

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