Desperately looking for diffusers. On Tuesday morning, the Professional Football League (LFP) found itself alone at the headquarters of the law firm Clifford Chance, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, where it had set up its base camp. Gone is the hope of reaching one billion euros. In the end, no surprise outsider came to blow on the embers to set French football's TV rights ablaze. "Apple, like other hypothetical players whose names have been mentioned, did not come to save them," said a source close to the matter. It seems that the LFP is finally paying for the Mediapro bazaar.
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In fact, the process of selling the rights to broadcast Ligue 1 matches for the next five seasons has failed. "After receiving several qualitative offers and financial guarantee schemes, ...) None of the five lots has been awarded today," the football body said in a terse statement.
Is 800 million too high a price?
The League did not disclose the number or names of the candidates who have positioned themselves. But as of 10 a.m., when the bidding began, none had aligned itself with the League's demands. "The reality is that no one has bet on it," says a person familiar with the matter. The bid had been set at €530 million for Lot 1, containing the two most beautiful Ligue 1 matches and the No. 4 pick of each matchday, and at €270 million for Lot 2, which includes the other six matches. In addition to the €800 million expected for these two main lots, three other lots, relating to magazines, were proposed for a total of €25 million.
The question posed to broadcasters through this auction process was simple: do you think that the France football championship is worth more than 800 million euros? Since the reserve prices set by the LFP have not been met, the answer is clearly no. And this is a first disavowal for the League. "This scenario was foreseeable," says Vincent Chaudel, founder of the Observatoire du sport business. Today, only Canal+ could amortize such high amounts and it was not on the starting line. For players like Amazon or Apple to agree to put a lot of money on Ligue1, they would have to be able to exploit rights in France and internationally, in order to amortize them on a large subscriber base. The expert recalls that Mediapro, which had to win 3.5 million subscribers at 25 euros per month to break even, has demonstrated that it is not playable.
Read alsoLigue 1 TV rights: Canal+ divorces, the LFP's bitter reaction
The football rights game is far from over. He is preparing to play extra time behind the scenes, while private negotiations between the LFP and the interested media have begun. The game could last several weeks. Among the candidates are Amazon, beIN Sports, the sports streaming platform Dazn and Apple. And why not... Canal+. On Tuesday afternoon, the Vivendi subsidiary had fun tweeting. "With Canal+, sport has never been greater. All the major competitions are here, in their entirety, and for a long time... while Ligue 1 still hasn't found a broadcaster.
French football is a bit stuck. If he is forced to scale back his financial ambitions, he will also be forced to scale back his sporting ambitions
Vincent Chaudel, Sport Business Observatory
The encrypted channel, which remains the leading financial backer of French football, is no doubt not unhappy to see the League bite the dust. The Mediapro episode, then that of Amazon, which had taken over most of the Ligue 1 matches for a pittance, have left their mark. Canal+ is currently playing the second leg. The League has just lost a battle, but at this point it has not yet lost the war.
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At the moment, French football is a bit stuck. If he is forced to revise his financial ambitions downwards, he will also be forced to revise his sporting ambitions downwards," explains Vincent Chaudel. In this game, everyone could end up losing. "A broadcaster who gets the championship back at a reduced price risks having a degraded show on the air. It would be like buying something that's not worth much cheaply.
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