To achieve this ambitious challenge, the Government has decided to launch a project that represents a changes in strategy followed historically by the Spanish Olympics, has traditionally been more inclined towards ‘coffee for all’ than empowerment of excellence. The name of the initiative itself, Team Spain Elite, speaks clearly of its determination to take a more distinctive direction than other countries such as England or the Netherlands so far.

This program, as announced on Wednesday by CSD president, José Manuel Franco, will be endowed with 48 million euros, 16 for each of the three years the remaining budget until the Olympic events in Paris. The purpose of these items is “to finance the preparation of athletes who, always on the basis of technical criteria, have” more chances to get medals“.

Looking for Excellence

“This is a program that looking for excellencechoose very well which athlete has the most medal selections”, developing government sources, about the selection to be made in a commission consisting of the CSD, the Spanish Olympic Committee and the federations involved.

And what types of expenses will the program cover? “Imagine that an athlete needs to train somewhere overseas, where they have some very powerful installation, to increase your chances of getting medals. Now, this program will pay for it,” they gave an example from CSD.

While perhaps the most striking thing about the Team España Elite program isn’t the millionaire fund goal it was originally intended for. That 48 million euros, which on paper comes from the CSD budget, is in fact will be paid by the football club First and Second division.

This additional economic item is one of the agreements reached during the so-called Viana Pact, a three-way commitment obtained in April 2020 by the CSD (still with Irene Lozano as president and secretary of state), LaLiga and the RFEF to agree a return to sporting activity and a rescue of discipline. and the clubs most affected by the pandemic.

television rights

One of the cornerstones of the agreement is the modification of the Royal Regulation Law 5/2015 which regulates the co-marketing of LaLiga’s audiovisual rights. In the text, it was originally collected that until 1.5% of television revenue will be used for CSD.

The pact reached in the spring of 2020 was intended to add a new additional item to the Government: “1.5% will be sent to CSD, which will allocate it to promotion, promotion and dissemination of federation, Olympic and Paralympic sportsand the internationalization of Spanish sport”.

The amount in the previous two years was earmarked for saving and helping other leagues during the pandemic, particularly the men’s premier handball (Asobal League) and basketball (ACB League) competitions.

Of that 1.5% comes 16 million euros (out of a total of about 51 that LaLiga contributes a year) which CSD will allocate to its new Olympic programme, Franco announced in his address to the Assembly of the Spanish Sports Associations (ADESP), where more than 50 sports federations nationally participate.

ADO plan

The birth of Team Espaa Elite does not mean the loss of the ADO Plan, a public-private financing program designed for Barcelona 92 ​​that provides scholarships to Olympic athletes. They emphasize from CSD that they are distinct and complementary programs, because while ADO distributes multiple scholarships (383 in 2021)This new project is aimed at the elite of the national sport.

However, reform of the ADO Plan in crisis was delayed for years due to the loss of interest shown by private entities and lost revenue from RTVEwhich causes CSD to bear an increasing share of the total financing.