The Professional Football League (LFP), which hopes for offers on February 1 to reallocate its TV rights, has endeavored to secure the future contract after the Mediapro fiasco by requiring the next broadcaster to take out a bank guarantee, according to the terms consulted. by AFP.
Read also: Foot: the League launches a "consultation" for its vacant TV rights, offers expected on February 1
Contrary to what was put in place in 2018 during the initial call for tenders, where the Mediapro group was able to obtain the rights to 80% of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 without a guarantee from a banking establishment but only from its reference shareholder, this guarantee is now imposed on interested operators.
They must formulate an offer to buy back the vacant TV rights on February 1, the LFP said on Tuesday as part of a
“market consultation”
relating to matches until 2024. Concretely, the broadcaster will have to put in place , within 30 days of the award,
"a stand-alone first demand guarantee from a leading banking establishment"
, according to the consultation document revealed by the site of Capital magazine and consulted by AFP.
The amount of this guarantee must be
"at least equal to the amount of the highest due date under any one of the four seasons".
Guarantee or good rating
It is nevertheless specified that the LFP may decide to waive the benefit of this guarantee if the broadcaster is well rated by a recognized rating agency, at a minimum rank of
“upper average quality”
, ie A- with most of these agencies.
This is not the case with Vivendi, parent company of Canal +, favorite for the resumption of rights.
Read also: Canal + will contest the call for tenders launched by the Football League
French football, which had not requested a bank guarantee from its broadcasters in previous calls for tenders, had been criticized for this choice this fall when Mediapro was unable to honor its payments, before negotiating a withdrawal agreement with its diffuser.
To alleviate the financial emergency affecting clubs, between the TV rights crisis and that of the Covid-19 pandemic, the terms of the consultation also impose a specific deadline: all of the remaining payments for the 2020 season - 2021 will have to be paid by February 5.
In addition, advance payments are planned for each season: 17% of the amount must be paid from April 5 of the previous season, and 17% must be paid as of June 5 of the previous season.