One hour and ten minutes to talk to each other, complain and decide to set up a working group.
The meeting this Tuesday morning by Zoom between the players in professional football and the public authorities did not lead to immediate measures.
But that was not the point.
In front of their screen, there was on one side Vincent Labrune, the boss of the Professional Football League (LFP), and the presidents of Lyon, Lorient, Montpellier and Rodez.
On the other hand, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of National Education, Youth and Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, the Minister for Sports, and Alain Griset, Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and who represented Bruno Lemaire, the Minister of the Economy.
Clearly, professional football, bloodied with the Covid crisis and the disaster of TV rights, had come to hold out its bowl and demand aid.
The four club presidents first exposed their financial situation before Vincent Labrune took the floor asking for help to avoid bankruptcy.
The three ministers then recalled the support of the State in 2020, through exemptions from charges and aid to compensate for the absence of the public in the stadiums.
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The League then exposed the possible avenues, according to it, to help pro football in the short and medium term:
- non-repayment of the PGE (loan guaranteed by the State) or extension of repayment periods.
The LFP must reimburse 68 million euros this season.
- increase in the exemption ceiling (currently 1.8 million euros).
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- find a way to compensate for non-ticketing revenue (from January 2021 until the public returns).
- Buffet tax exemption (5% of TV rights are donated to amateur sport).
The ministers then replied that this would be a bad signal sent to amateur sport.
Clearly, it is no.
In the longer term, the LFP calls for tax credits, a cap on security costs (clubs pay for the use of police forces on match days) and the creation of a commercial company attached to the League.
Obviously, no measures could fall at the end of the meeting.
The participants in the meeting agreed to constitute, by the end of the week, a working group which will make it possible to make arbitrations as quickly as possible.