Sevilla president Jose del Nido has called a meeting of all Spanish league clubs to force through an equal TV revenue sharing deal with Real Madrid and Barcelona in a movement he likens to the French Revolution.
Madrid and Barcelona receive half of the TV rights money - totaling over ?250 million ($360 million) - and the gulf between them and the other 18 teams has widened, with no other club winning the league since 2004.
The Spanish pair were not been invited to Thursday's meeting at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium as Del Nido hopes to form a united alternate collective, with the current deal expiring in 2014.
Sevilla said on its website Tuesday that presidents from up to 15 of the remaining 17 clubs invited had confirmed their presence to ''debate'' and ''seek solutions'' to the problem.
Del Nido called it ''a grassroots revolution.''
''We can compare this with the French Revolution, which at first had a number of spokesmen like Voltaire and Rousseau and in the end you look at how it ended for the French King, you can imagine the comparisons with La Liga,'' Del Nido was quoted as saying on Sevilla's website. ''There's no turning back because us heads cannot allow it that the two most powerful clubs always end up with the league.''
Del Nido publicly asked Atletico Madrid and Valencia to join ''this movement'' as they are both struggling with enormous debts. Six of Spain's 20 topflight clubs are in bankruptcy protection, including Real Betis, Racing Santander, Levante, Granada, Rayo Vallecano and Zaragoza.
Each club currently negotiates its own TV deal.
''We are 20 clubs and 20 clubs should decide how the revenues are decided,'' Del Nido said. ''I believe 90 percent of fans agree with me.''
Madrid began its season with a 6-0 win at Zaragoza while three-time defending champion Barcelona routed Villarreal, which is playing in the Champions League this season, 5-0.
The gulf between first and third is on average 22 points over the past four seasons.
