“Ligue 1 clubs must urgently reduce players' salaries and transfer costs”

Pierre Rondeau, a specialist in economics, sports and football, is also a columnist for La chaîne L'Equipe and RMC Story. Pierre Rondeau

Professor of economics at the Sports Management School, co-director of the Observatoire Sport et Société at the Fondation Jean-Jaurès, Pierre Rondeau believes that the PSG “mirage” has done a lot of harm to the image of Ligue 1, which is seeing its TV rights collapse. However, he does not believe in a general bankruptcy.

How can we explain this drop in TV rights in France and not in our neighboring countries? ?

England, Spain, Germany, Italy, are countries comparable to ours economically but culturally, in France, Ligue 1 is not the premium product as it can be in these countries. In our country, half of the fans support a foreign club. Beyond the political elements and the procrastination that have marked the latest calls for tender, the first question to ask is the following: is Ligue 1 a premium product, a loss leader capable of attracting subscribers and creating notoriety for the broadcaster ? What is the real value of this championship ? Is it capable of attracting two, three million subscribers who will agree to pay 15, 20, 30 euros per month to watch only French L1 ?

Is this the case ?

If we analyze things with a fairly broad focus, we must recognize that the Qatar version of PSG has muddied the waters. We tended to think that Paris was valuable, that it had attracted or allowed to keep stars like Neymar, Mbappé and before them Ibrahimovic. The reality is that PSG has altered the intrinsic quality of Ligue 1. We ended up with a Parisian behemoth that certainly allowed performances in Europe and international notoriety but which, in fact, led to the product being devalued sportingly. This led consumers to turn to other more prestigious championships like the Premier League or La Liga.

Messi and Mbappé after Neymar: the stars attracted by PSG have sent a distorted and overrated image of Ligue 1. MAXPPP – Alexis Sciard

Is the Level overrated in the minds of the leaders of the League ?

In the approaches of successive presidents since Frédéric Thiriez, the reasoning is simplistic: France has 68 million inhabitants with high purchasing power and a potential of 3 to 4 million people who declare themselves interested in L1. 3 million people at 30 euros, that allows us to aim for 900 million in TV rights. But we bit off more than we could chew.

Weren't there strategic errors? ?

Without a doubt. Thus, as early as September 2023, at the time of the last call for tenders, DAZN had positioned itself for 500 million for all matches, a year before the start of the season to prepare its marketing and explain its product. If we had accepted this deal instead of awarding them the market the following summer, we would have had greater success than today because they would have had more time. There is a gap between the price estimated by the managers and the reality of the market.

Compared to Canal +, there was the mistake of marginalizing the historic broadcaster ?

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Totally. The League favored short-term financial security by betting on Amazon in 2021. This broadcaster was ready to put up 250 million to make a total of 630 including beinsport and Free… The other proposal was the beinsport-canal ticket for all rights for 570 million euros with an increase of 50 million depending on the number of subscribers received. The League did not trust this proposal and took the risk of turning to a new player who had few subscribers. This gave the impression to broadcasters that 250 million euros for 80% of L1 was what it was worth… Especially since Amazon did not reposition itself and at its peak had only reached 1.8 million subscribers. Making football profitable under these conditions is impossible. Something that could not have happened to Canal + and its 8 million subscribers.

Should the League have created its own platform by partnering with Max rather than opting for Dazn in 2024? ?

I answer yes when I look as a consumer at what Max offers for 5 euros per month with good series like Dune and Game of Thrones, to which Harry Potter will be added next year. For 27 euros per month you had all of Ligue 1 plus the max bouquet, I think it would have been a success. Except that the choice of this L1 platform was risky because it would have been self-managed and there would have been no money paid upfront by a broadcaster. The clubs would have self-managed this project. In the short term it was risky but in the long term it was an obvious choice.

What also weighs down the results is this pension fund, CVC, which collects 13% of the rights. Was Labrune right or did he sell his soul to the devil ?

Both. It must be remembered that at that time the clubs were really on the verge of bankruptcy and that a loan would have been very costly. Money was needed. But in my opinion, it would have been necessary to make a contract for a period and not for life with CVC.

Should the tendering system linked to the Lamour law of 2003 be reviewed ?

Many managers are bothered by this highly regulated tendering system and would prefer private discussions with broadcasters. Others, like in the American system, would like ten-year contracts. Here we are at five years maximum. In Portugal, each club negotiates its own rights with the broadcasters and the consumer pays a subscription for his club. In our country, the Lamour law prohibits it.

Is there a risk of widespread bankruptcy? ?

I don't think so. Football is too popular for there to be widespread bankruptcies. There will always be people ready to invest. If tomorrow clubs like Lyon or Montpellier collapse, they are too important to disappear. Bordeaux is a bit of a counter-example. If Dazn doesn't work, we'll have austerity plans, layoffs, downgrading but no bankruptcy. There are 40,000 jobs at stake in the football economy in France.

The flagship of French football, the Girondins de Bordeaux were relegated to National 2 last summer. MAXPPP – DAVID Thierry

Are we going to see a big sale during this winter transfer window ?

We must hope for a collective sale or rather collective rigor. This brings us back to the recent controversy, at your place in Montpellier, linked to Savanier's salary. Is 220,000 euros for performances at this level reasonable ? France, despite the Covid crisis, is the only European championship in the big 5 that has seen its payroll/budget ratio increase. This is not normal. We must lower players' salaries and transfer costs, have a clear-sightedness on what French football is really worth.

Are we at a crossroads to move towards a model less dependent on TV rights ?

Unfortunately, I am very cynical. To change things, man does not know how to anticipate, as we saw with climate change. It is when risks arise that we start to make decisions. It is a bit the same in football. I had hoped that we would change the model after Mediapro, after each crisis. We will only change the model when football faces very, very great difficulties. I do not believe it is capable of imposing a structural reform in anticipation.

Author of Les Français et le sport (Cherche Midi), Le foot va-t-il explode (Éditions de l’Aube) I subscribe to read the rest