CD Tenerife faces its return to the Second Division under the strict economic control of LaLiga, a mechanism that determines clubs' spending capacity on their squads. This system, known as the sporting squad cost limit, is once again crucial for the blue and white team's planning, as they will have to adjust their investments to the figures authorized by the Spanish football league.

The process begins each season between April and May, when clubs submit an estimate of income and expenses. From there, LaLiga calculates an initial salary cap. However, as Marc Menchén, CEO of 2PlayBook, explains, "it's not a fixed snapshot." The limit can increase if the club generates new income, such as selling a player or signing a new sponsorship. "The competition raises the spending ceiling you will obtain," he clarifies.

LaLiga has been refining its regulations to prevent clubs from using "tricks." Measures such as capital increases are now tightly controlled to prevent them from becoming an unfair competitive advantage. According to Menchén, any such injection "has to be divided over two or three seasons, precisely so that someone with a lot of money cannot come here, put a lot of money into a club, and perhaps have it backfire."

This regulatory evolution is a response to strategies clubs found to evade control. Cases like that of UD Almería and its sponsorships led LaLiga to hire external auditors like Nielsen to value agreements at market price and prevent income figures from being inflated.

The calculation of the salary cap is based on a seemingly simple formula: total income minus non-sporting expenses. However, income projections must be realistic. A discrepancy between the budgeted and actual income penalizes the following season, as already happened to Tenerife with an optimistic projection of Copa del Rey income, by José Miguel Garrido and his team, which did not materialize. The same applies to transfers, where LaLiga does not allow budgeting more than the average of the last three years.

For its return, it is estimated that Tenerife's initial salary cap will be between 5.5 and 6 million euros. This relatively low figure is explained by penalties such as the recent seasons' red numbers and the repayment of a loan of around 4 million euros for the blue and white team's place in professional football. Despite this, Menchén is optimistic and believes the club has potential for more.

Menchén maintains that, despite the penalties, the club will be well-positioned. "Historically, the club has had one of the highest salary caps in the category" due to its "very high social implantation" and "considerable local sponsorship support." Therefore, he believes that Tenerife, in terms of salary cap, should aim "more for a playoff spot than for permanence."

The future of the second tier looks promising with a significant economic injection thanks to the increase in television rights, which could raise the minimum each club receives to 7 million euros in the next cycle. Total revenue could rise from 140 to 200 million from 2027 onwards. This economic stability, however, will coexist with increasing polarization in the league.

According to Menchén, "it is becoming very difficult to sustain oneself with a fanbase that does not exceed 10,000 or 15,000 people." In this scenario, the ability to generate income from stadiums and sponsorships becomes the differentiating factor. For the expert, "good times are coming to recover a very strong Second Division with historic clubs," a group in which, due to its history and fanbase, CD Tenerife is comfortably positioned.