La Liga president Javier Tebas has defended the scheduling of the first El Clasico match of the season, stating it was the ideal time.
The match will be played at 4.15pm local time (3.15pm in the UK) meaning that it could not be shown in England but the president – who was recently re-elected uncontested – has said it was the perfect time to show to both the Asian and American viewers.
"The Barcelona and Real Madrid game will be played on Saturday at 4:15pm – the game will not be aired in England because of the TV embargo that is placed at that time,” Tebas told Cadena Ser
"We had three windows we had considered, at 1pm, 4:15pm and 6:30pm. We analysed those with our audiovisual team and to play at 6 p.m. is too late in Asia while to play at 1 p.m. is too early for the American market."
A number of amendments have been made to kick-off times in La Liga this year – including the scraping of the 10pm local time kick-offs on Saturdays and introducing a new 1pm Saturday match.
"I look at other [foreign] leagues when setting the timetable," Tebas said. "The timetable is a strategy we have been working on in recent years and the results are there. Our international sales have tripled because of that and the quality of the players we have in our league.
"We are continuously looking at ways that we can improve our product. For example, we have installed aerial cameras in seven venues and by the end of the season, we will have that in three more stadiums."
