Because it has been living on a drip of TV rights for years and this tap is starting to turn off, Ligue 1 is going through a period of deep turbulence, a consequence in particular of a number of bad choices by its leaders.
Late salaries paid in Angers, a restructuring plan in Montpellier, Lyon banned from recruiting and relegated to L2 as a precautionary measure by the DNCG… The sudden drop of almost 50% in TV rights weighs down the daily life and darkens the horizon of French clubs. How did we get here? ? A look back at four decades of a marriage that was both prolific and sulphurous.
1. Marriage of convenience with Canal +
The arrival of Canal + in 1984 shook up the French audiovisual landscape. No more free, hello the goose that lays the golden eggs for cinema and sport. The D1 of the time was never exposed on the small screen. The encrypted channel offered it to its subscribers for 800,000 euros per year. An exclusivity whose amount was multiplied by 250 16 years later (200 million euros in 2000). A win-win marriage for the channel which multiplied its subscriptions (3 million from 1991) with this loss leader.
2. Canal and beIN SPORT, a duo for the golden age
In the 2010s, French football leaders were no longer satisfied with a windfall that stagnated around 600 million, the real price of L1 ? They refused to believe it. The purchase of PSG by the Qataris and the launch of the beIN SPORT channel changed the situation and raised the stakes.
Ligue 1 is the only major European championship not to have reached a billion in TV rights. Midi Libre – Antoine Llop
In association with Canal +, the newcomer allows rights to rise to 726 million per year over the period 2012-2016. The fantasy of the billion is embedded in the eyes of many club presidents. What is the point of struggling to diversify income when an endless windfall continues to fall.
3. Médiapro: the mirage then the catastrophe
This bubble had to burst one day. The disaster occurred in 2020, accelerated by the Covid pandemic which cut short the 2019-2020 championship. During the call for tenders for 2020-2024, the LFP nevertheless aimed for a billion and made the first mistake of easing the qualitative constraints for this. A newcomer, Mediapro, having been rejected by Italy, took advantage to put 780 million on the table and scooped 80% of the lots.
With the 332 million from beIN SPORT, the annual billion is exceeded (1.15) and L1 becomes the 2nd best-selling championship in Europe behind England. Exit Canal. But what does it matter to bosses who focus on figures and the short term? ? Problem: Mediapro is used to reselling subcontracting to channels that know how to do it.
But Canal + refuses the deal. Mediapro has to improvise the launch of a channel (Téléfoot) in the middle of lockdown, which will never take off. The Spanish audiovisual group, which has only attracted 400,000 subscribers in France, announced in October 2020 that it would no longer be able to pay. Canal + takes over the rights to the season for a pittance (40 million). Far from a billion, the total falls back to 660 million.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,0004. Cutting yourself off from Canal +, the fatal error
We think that the historic broadcaster is coming back as a savior. Cruel mistake. During the call for tenders for the renegotiated Mediapro rights (2021-2024), the League preferred the 624 million offered by another newcomer – Amazon – to the 570 million offered by the Canal – beIN duo with a variable share in addition. Vincent Labrune, the new president of the LFP also dreams of the billion on the 2024-2029 call for tenders, which does not receive… any offers.
Régis Juanico: “The LFP has made repeated mistakes”
Departmental councilor of the Loire, former deputy, Régis Juanico was, with Cédric Roussel, co-rapporteur of a parliamentary report on the financing of sport by TV rights, in 2021.
Why did you produce this report in 2021 ?
This followed the Mediapro fiasco. What surprised us was that there was no official audit by either the FFF or the ministry to find out its reasons. This allowed us to do in-depth work by hearing all the stakeholders concerned, 200 people in total.
Did the LFP ignore warning signs by entrusting its rights to Mediapro ?
Yes, absolutely. There was a lack of rules of prudence and supervision in the calls for tenders. The absence of a requested guarantee was particularly striking. There was a kind of blindness, a mirage with regard to Mediapro which dangled a 60% increase in TV rights. Subsequently, it only deteriorated with repeated errors.
With an Impact also on amateur sport ?
Yes because this induces a reduction in the solidarity amount (Buffet tax), deducted from these TV rights. Since 2020, this represents a loss of 30 million euros, 20 million this year.
Why do the English value their championship more ?
They have managed to increase the value of their TV rights over the long term at several billion euros. They have found the right balance with expensive but higher quality subscription offers. Today, 80% of French people are not prepared to pay more than 20 euros per month for football. Hence the problem of piracy.
How can clubs escape this TV addiction ?
We have obtained that the first professional contract for young people increases from 3 to 5 years, in 2022, to better promote training. But the League was supposed to take the turn of diversification in terms of ticketing and match experience. Some like Strasbourg and Lyon have taken the step but we are very late.
The LFP is considering creating its own channel before giving up and selling off its rights in the summer of 2024 to another new channel, DAZN, which is asking for 400 million. Added to the 100 million from beIN SPORT, we fall back to 500 million for domestic rights. Canal, for its part, is no longer responding.
Amazon peaked at 1.8 million subscribers, DAZN has not revealed its first figures. By selling its soul to the first comer, the LFP has broken its toy and massacred its exposure, cutting itself off from an audience that has turned to foreign championships. Canal + is now making its money with nearly 10 million subscribers in France and 26 million worldwide.
5. The commercial company, the coup de grâce
To save L1 from the Mediapro shipwreck, Vincent Labrune decided in 2020 to create a commercial company and to sell 13% of its shares to the Luxembourg pension fund CVC Partners for 1.5 billion which replenishes the coffers. But the LFP must now sell 13% of its TV rights to CVC, for life. Of the 500 million for the current season, once the League's costs have been deducted, only 300 million remains for the clubs. A big leap back 20 years…
I subscribe to read the rest