The largest Spanish private TV operators Mediaset and Atresmedia, the rights holder Mediapro, and public broadcaster RTVE have joined forces to boycott the Supercopa de España (Super Cup) and won’t bid for the TV rights to the tournament.

The move comes after the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has announced its decision to move the Supercopa de Espana to Saudi Arabia.

Not only has the location of Spain’s traditional curtain-raiser been changed, but the entire format of the competition has changed with now four teams set to compete rather than two.

Broadcasters argue that the competition would be unprofitable for them. The deadline for bids is November 28^th.

Additionally, Jesús Álvarez, RTVE’s head of sport, said the broadcaster would not join the bidding to buy the rights because Saudi Arabia violates human rights, especially women’s rights in the area of sport. “It’s a country where until very recently women couldn’t go to watch football. Human rights are fundamental to this corporation, which has made a big push for women’s sport in the last few years,” he asserted.

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