By Kyle Castellanos

El Clasico, club soccer’s most famous rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, has attracted quite an unusual controversy in recent weeks. The first clash between the sides for the 2019-2020 season, originally scheduled to be played in Barcelona on October 24th, was postponed by Spanish football officials. After nine Catalan separatist leaders were arrested, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) deemed the conditions in Barcelona unsafe to host the match as extreme political unrest rocked the region.

The rescheduling of “El Clasico” has been a nightmare, not least because of disputes over when the match should occur—which has significant financial implications for all parties involved. RFEF had originally proposed the game to be rescheduled to December 7th. However, both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona proposed a different date, December 18th, which had been mutually agreed upon despite multiple outside objections.

The objections are in large part due to concerns over viewership. The date proposed by the Spanish Football Federation, December 7th, would be played in the early afternoon on the weekend, allowing international audiences, especially in Asia and Oceania, to watch the game live. The teams’ suggested date would be played in the evening on a Wednesday, giving them more rest time (as weekends tend to be busier) but drastically reducing the number of live viewers for the game.

“El Clasico” is one of the most popular fixtures in all of sports, with some games reaching up to 1 billion live viewers. External actors outside of the teams are focused on scheduling the fixture to optimize the fiscal properties of the game, while both teams are attempting to find the most agreeable date to avoid fatigue throughout their lengthy season. But which side will ultimately cave in to the other’s demands, especially with the specter of legal action looming, remains to be seen.