What do you think of the difficulties that the French clubs will face?
Mourad Boudjellal: I read an interview with Patrick Wolff in Le Figaro and it was a copy-paste of what I said 6-7 years ago. (Smile) Through the salary cap, we are in control of a turnover but not the way it was made. Today, there are obvious ways out of the crisis but which they do not see. They are negotiating the drop in players' wages by 25%. It will be very complicated to set up and an individual choice of players. I am not sure that the players who have a low salary or those who are at the end of the contract accept. Their contracts must be honored. We are in the ideal position today to restore the DIC (right to the collective image). It was the measure that was most interesting for the clubs, namely a reduction on the first 30 percent of the salary. We can even increase it to 40%. What the government will fear is a 25% drop in player wages. The government is losing three times. First there are social charges on the 25%. He will then lose direct tax on this 25%. And finally he will lose the indirect consumption tax and in particular the VAT. It is the worst solution for the government.
"In August, if it starts again, I'm not sure that people want to crowd in the stadiums"
Are there other aspects that you deplore about the measures taken?
We know that the Pro D2 will be less impacted than the Top 14. Isn't it time to ask the Pro D2 to have a virtuous role? Rather than 33 professional contracts, only 28 would be needed. For all clubs. But you are playing more Hopes. At the same time, we are putting in place - as I have been asking for so many years - a promotion of training. There will be a virtuous circle since these Hopes, who play and show themselves, you can sell them. In addition, the distribution of TV rights was 60-40 between Top 14 and Pro D2, we can move it to 70-30, both are winners. The 10% less for the Pro D2 will be largely offset by the Hope contracts. And the Top 14 gets more TV rights. With these two measures, we solved the problem. As a third measure, there would be VAT on the ticket office. We can, I think, get a repeal of the VAT on ticketing.
»READ ALSO - Laporte warns:« strong risk »that the Top 14 and the Pro D2 will not resume
Other tracks?
We must also take a look at the lifestyle of the League (national rugby), which represents 25 to 30% of its budget. Economically, this year will be rather simple for clubs. Where a lot of clubs lie is that with short-time working, they're going to make money. Next year will be harder. A partner signs for a club, not on its balance sheet, but on its cash. And it will be bad ... Second, in August, if it starts again, I'm not sure that people want to crowd in the stadiums. Mayol, it was at 17,000 people, it will increase to 8,500. It will be one seat in two. Then there is the purchasing power of people. All of the people who are part-time workers, for example, will skip their plans before they skip their children's vacation.
“I had proposed that a club like Agen, for example, could resell the salary cap that it does not use. It could represent an additional 2 million ”
Will clubs be brought to change their economic model?
I've been saying for a while that we need financial fair play, promoting training and authorizing transfers. And the salary cap is an extraordinary thing. There are a lot of people who pass it. But rather than surpassing it virtuously, it surpasses it occultly. There are clubs that have a salary cap and they never use it. I had proposed that a club like Agen, for example, could resell the salary cap that it does not use. It could represent an additional 2 million. The money remains inside the economic system and Agen will reinvest these two million. Rather that this money runs away to the right, to the left ...
The clubs which depend on a patron are those who suffer the least from the current crisis ...
These clubs do not create collective wealth. They only create wealth inside their club, by paying people. I have nothing against the Stade Français but I understand that they agreed to play behind closed doors because they would have had the impression all their matches at home. Today, we have not sufficiently valued these clubs which are based on a real economy. In Toulon, I encountered great difficulties - not as much as what Bernard Lemaître says, to whom I will answer one day because he is still cheeky enough, but I do not want to create conflicts with him - because of TV rights. When I said that it was thanks to Toulon that the rights had increased, we put our matches on Sunday at 5 p.m. They killed my ticket office, my partnerships, my hospitality, my marketing, my shops and my brewery. At this time, I could no longer exploit the basics of my club's economy. And without rewarding me next. It's not for want of yelling! We killed the club that was doing the hearings.
"Next year, there will be matches on Sunday at 9 p.m. ... Clubs that live on the real economy, they will die"
We have told you again now that you are no longer president than when you were ...
I have regained my freedom of speech. I repeat myself but the new TV schedules have killed me. I felt the decrease of all the products and the increase of all the charges. Especially when we started playing on December 31 at 9 p.m., January 1 at 9 p.m. ... Some said: "Yes, but we play at noon!" At noon, you play a small club, so a little recipe. A small recipe has become a very small recipe. We, at 5 p.m., were big recipes that became very small recipes. It is not the same. I fought over it saying that there was no meritocracy. It is a terrible mistake. And next year, there will be matches on Sunday at 9 p.m. ... Clubs that live on the real economy, they will die. In Toulon, on Saturday you are the club of a region, on Sunday you are the club of a city. It is not the same...
Do you have regrets to see that you left without having been able to convey your ideas?
At the last club presidents' meeting, about the EPCR, I felt there was a big change. The problem is that there were a lot of jealousies. Because winning, it creates jealousy. Especially if you have a big mouth. The third jealousy was on my over-media coverage. There are still a lot of egos in rugby. People who say they don't want the media but only dream about it. They dare not admit it. Even my buyer, I say that he did not buy a club, he bought a podium. The value he was looking for was that. (Laughs) And then, let's not forget that the Club World Cup was my idea. I had organized a Toulon-Crusaders match in Hong Kong. I had applied for a match authorization, it was refused by World Rugby, the ERC (now the EPCR) and the Federation. The three are a little panicked ... In the European Cup we are bored, we have to expand. We always find the same: the French, the English and the Irish ...
“My outing was minted and pretty good. It was the way to activate my exit »
Do you miss rugby?
I still am a little. But, you know, when I left publishing after spending 20 years there, I cut. I cut a bit with rugby but I started again with the coronavirus. Because what excites me is the economy and I love all these issues. Regarding my departure, I knew I was going to be bitten and I let it go because I wanted to leave. I let Bernard Lemaître set up a system of charges that the club could not bear. So that it is in the red. I knew very well how it was going to happen at the finish. That he would say "I have to give money back" and that he would blame me for it. And that he would have totally forgotten that it was his will. But I told myself that my outing was minted and pretty good. It was the way to activate my exit. Do I miss it? No, when I watch Canal +, I'm still the president ... (Laughs) I miss the stadium crying. I'm going to look for it elsewhere.
Do you think you can find that in football?
I think yes. I am on two beautiful projects in football, I can not tell you more. With the RCT experience, I have a strength and a step back that I had never had before. I will decide which of the two projects I will choose, both are very exciting. It will be the last project of my life. Afterwards, I'm going to go see elsewhere if I'm there ... I had lots of choices. I asked myself, "What do you want to do?" There was politics, a return to publishing - there it was red carpet - there was the League, it was playable. We were in the passage times. And then there was football and bringing up a club in Ligue 1. I took the hardest part. The challenge had to be very hard for it to be exciting.
Read also
- Laporte-Goze, the eternal return of the chefs' fight