After four seasons of disappointing audiences and attendances, Liga F found itself with a difficult decision to make.
It could either continue putting its product behind a paywall to extract the maximum amount of money, or make radical changes to correct a course that could have led to Spanish women’s club football languishing in obscurity.
Its decision to sell a 25-year share of its commercial revenues to a Pau Gasol-fronted investment group for €55m in June signalled a major change was coming, and the league’s new broadcast deals from 2026-27 onward – signed last week with DAZN, RTVE and TV3 – clearly prioritise free-to-air availability over maximum income.
The new deals will ensure four Liga F fixtures each matchweek will be shown in front of a paywall, though DAZN will retain the first-pick match each week for its subscription service. To ensure DAZN doesn’t continually choose Barcelona matches, each broadcaster can show a maximum of 15 Barcelona matches and 15 Real Madrid matches each season, while one of the two Clásicos must appear on free-to-air.
It took Liga F two attempts to sell its domestic rights. The original round of bidding, which concluded on 10 August, included reserve prices on two packages of rights – one for subscription platforms, one for free-to-watch platforms. Those reserve prices added up to €7m per season and although the league received bids, none reached the reserve prices.
