Spain's La Liga loses title sponsor BBVA as English financial threat looms

Liga BBVA? No more.

The league has lost Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) as an exclusive partner, leaving the league without a title sponsor for next season, Spanish league president Javier Tebas announced Wednesday.

Tebas said the league likely can't replace BBVA in time for next season, but said it's received "many proposals."

La Liga could instead have multiple sponsors, Tebas said, though the loss of BBVA presents a new challenge amid potential financial fallout.

Presenting the league's annual financial report on professional football, Tebas outlined the need for La Liga to remain commercially competitive and argued its clubs deserve appreciation from Spaniards for remaining solvent.

"Our clubs were convinced that we had to self-regulate in order to achieve solvency," Tebas said. "At La Liga we have only coordinated and steered the restructuring plan, but it's the clubs that deserve recognition from Spanish society. ...

"Spanish football contributes €810 million to the state, directly and indirectly from 42 companies. This contribution is transformed into new infrastructure for the state and our citizens."

While the Spanish league searches for profits under a newly revised television rights agreement called the Royal Decree, it's now threatened by the Premier League and its increasing financial muscle.

"They (in England) earn €2.5 billion more than Spanish football, which entails a risk of our talent being lured to play in the Premier League because of its superior financial clout," Tebas said. He added, "The approval of the Royal Decree left everyone relatively satisfied. We were very smart because we managed to maintain the differences between our biggest clubs and the rest, so as to retain talent."