La Liga: 10 Reasons the Reign of Spanish Soccer is Over

La Liga, Spain's top flight was once believed to be on top of the world in all categories. However, these days it is becoming ever more clear that there are truly only two clubs that matter any more for the once glorified league.

The decline of Spanish football is a travesty, plain and simple.

A host of reasons continue to signal that the decline is continuing each and every season. The best players that are not playing for Real Madrid or Barcelona continue to leave for other leagues as they feel their club just will not be able to compete for a La Liga title.

Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan and David De Gea all leaving Atletico Madrid is a prime example, Juan Mata leaving Valencia is yet another.

Until the Spanish Football Association can find continuity for the league on multiple levels it will continue to be a ticking time bomb that will inevitably fall even further down the list, and here are 10 of the reasons why it is failing.

Not a Level Personnel Field

Last weekend on September 25, 2011 Barcelona welcomed Atletico Madrid into the Nou Camp. Madrid's working class favored club came into the Catalan stadium with the best defensive record in La Liga.

However, they left with that no longer intact as a Lionel Messi hat trick accounted for three of the five goals the Champions put past the much improved Atletico.

This match is once again proof of the gap between the level of players across La Liga in comparison between both Barcelona and Real Madrid. The two richest and highest value clubs in the league have more talent and money than any of the other teams can compete with.

The worst players from either Real or Barca would start on any club in the league, and that in itself is a major problem.

Mountains of Debt

A 2010 article by Jonathan Clegg of the Wall Street Journal tackled the overwhelming debt issue of La Liga. All 20 clubs of the Spanish top flight are constantly going into the Red and a number of clubs already facing bankruptcy or administration.

The attempt to compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona has clubs such as Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla to name a few are constantly breaking the bank trying to keep up.

One of the recent clubs to start spending big is Mallorca. Their financial reports from 2008-09 show them having an operating income of €28.1 million, but their wage bill alone was €34.6 million putting them €6.5 million in the red. How can a team ever grow like this.

Spain's governing body is attempting to change this with their newest club wide rule coming into affect over the next few years that would allow clubs to only spend a maximum of 75 percent of their operating income.

Who Watches La Liga

The real question is not who watches La Liga, or even if because they do. The problem is that between the two of them, Real Madrid and Barcelona rake in over half of the revenue earning them each around £140 million each leaving the lower 18 clubs to scrap for the remaining £200 million or so that even if distributed evenly is only £11 million each.

However, that is not the case. Southern Spanish club Sevilla reported £24 million in TV revenues, Atletico Bilbao at £17 million once again leaving the bottom feeders pretty much broke without a chance of ever really climbing up.

England, France and Germany's leagues all share TV revenue, which allows teams like the EPL's Stoke City to bring in £41 million. It is clear that there has to be a change in this allocation to allow the clubs to all share in the profits and not handicap those below the top two, and those in even worse position below the top five.

Avoiding the SPL Affect

La Liga is threatening to become the newest version of the Scottish Premier League. There has not been a Scottish champion that was not Celtic or Glasgow Rangers since 1985-86 when Sir Alex Ferguson led Aberdeen to the title.

Spain's top flight is now at risk of its two biggest clubs having the same take on the title as it has been seven seasons since Valencia last knocked the two off the top thanks to Rafael Benitez having one of his best seasons in charge of any club he has managed.

Loss of Entertainment Value

Spain once had a style of play throughout its entire league that people loved to watch, and it kept the fans coming. The 1990's were great of La Liga, and their was once a time even around seven to ten years ago that their were teams that challenged the top two. Valencia's 2003-04 title as mentioned before as well as Atletico Madrid's 1995-96 double for the League and Copa Del Rey titles.

However, that entertainment value has been completely lost. The Galactico's of Real Madrid continue to grow stronger and stronger, but they are even eclipsed as Barcelona storms through both La Liga and the Champions League.

In all honesty the matches in La Liga have declined drastically in quality, and unless it is the Classico between Real and Barca many fans are not finding the game as grand a Spectacle. Likewise this is causing less new fans to begin following the league.

Arrogance of Real Madrid and Barcelona

On September 5, 2011 fellow Bleacher Report featured columnist True Blue touched on the reports that both of La Liga's top clubs could try and leave the Spanish Top Flight.

In total arrogance the it seems that they want to keep their monster share of the TV profits and advertising deals, but expect all the other teams to improve over night with only a limited amount of left over extra profits to pull from, plus the new spending regulations. All of those issues have been touched on

I urge you all to read True Blues article as it explains this nonsense in great detail.

All of the La Liga Clubs Will Never Agree

Again I touch back to the Wall Street Journal article mentioned before. In 2010 La Liga's clubs outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona all called for the Government to regulate the League in hopes of leveling the ability of clubs to compete.

The Spanish Secretary of State at the time, Jaime Lissavetzky, said the government would never force teams to strike joint TV deals.

"

"I don't think they want to see an interventionist government.

There must be self-regulation, the clubs have to sit at a table and find the best model."

"

However, Madrid and Barca will most likely never agree to it. Which means it could possibly never happen, meaning they continue to hold their advantage and complain that they have no competition while not being willing to share.

3rd Is the New Title

To many clubs like Sevilla, Valencia, Villareal, Atletico Madrid and Atletico Bilbao there has become to wide of a gap at the top for them to financially appeal to players of the highest caliber.

Of the five clubs mentioned above, Atletico Madrid had the highest profile new signing in the acquisition of Radamel Falcao from FC Porto over the summer.

Meanwhile top players continue to leave those clubs with the hope of competing for top honors outside of Spain.

The main goal now is truly to reach for the 3rd place spot which will see them reach the Champions League and allow them to add additional revenue elsewhere since they are not gaining in domestically.

Managers No Longer Seem to Expect to Beat Real or Barca

Red flags come up out of all corners when clubs and their manager's brush off losses to Real Madrid and Barcelona as expected.

Former Hercules coach Esteban Vigo, seemed to take comfort in loosing only 2-0 to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu last season when in his post-match press conference he was happy with his club's performance.

"

“Other teams ship 5/6 goals here."

"

Hercules was not expected to finish high in the table anyway and were relegated, but it is unfortunate to see a manager happy at the margin of a loss because he never even thought there was the chance of an upset.

Overall Exposure Completely Lopsided

Lastly we have to take into account the overall exposure that Real Madrid and Barcelona reap as compered to the other 18 clubs in La Liga.

As a prime example, the next time you write an article on Bleacher Report if you are a writer just take the time to plug pretty much any Spanish club into the photo search bar. Nine times out of ten you are going to see that club pictured against Real Madrid or Barcelona.

On top of that think of the amount of times you see people wearing Barca or Real kits around. Living in the United States it is more biased when you see football kits around, but if is a Spanish side it is almost always one of the two. Seeing EPL kits you see Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and even lower level clubs. Italian you see AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, Roma and sometimes even Fiorentina.

Have you ever seen an advertisement with a player outside of Real or Barcelona, really more like outside of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, but have you.

Until teams in the 3-20 spots can start getting more commercialization aside from their limited TV rights, they are going to continue to have major issues as well.

Conclusion

In the long run, Spain's reputation for being the best league in the world destined to dominate all is a thing of the past.

England's Premier League is the most televised league in the world and offers better top to bottom competition than La Liga by a long shot. Germany's Bundesliga does the same in many respects as the wealth distribution system there is top rate.

For Spain to climb back to the top they have a lot of changes to make.

Thanks for following me and be sure to read further on Bleacher Report and at the links below. You can follow me on Twitter   @thedailyatz and Facebook or visit my Website.