can the LFP hit the jackpot with TV rights?

Hoping to pocket the jackpot and avoid another fiasco like that of Mediapro. The Professional Football League (LFP) will reveal, on Tuesday October 17, the lucky winners who have positioned themselves on the different lots of Ligue 1 TV rights. The LFP and its boss, Vincent Labrune, hope to pocket 1 billion euros per season for five years, with the call for tenders covering the period between 2024 and 2029.

Canal + not in the list, DAZN joins the dance: who are the candidates?

Six years ago, the Mediapro fiasco shook French football. The Spanish audiovisual group spent 750 million euros in 2017 and created a channel, which ultimately closed a few months after its opening. This year, the League has set itself a very high objective: to ensure that Ligue 1 rights reach 1 billion euros per season, an amount that leaves many managers wondering. The problem for Vincent Labrune, the boss of the LFP, is that Canal + decided not to participate in the call for tenders. The historic broadcaster of the French championship announced it via a letter revealed by The Team, in which the channel’s management considered that the conditions of the call for tenders were intended “to exclude Canal + and favor Amazon“.

>> Ligue 1: “We can expect rights well below those of 2018”, estimates Pierre Maes, sports TV rights consultant

Behind the encrypted channel, Amazon already owns most of the rights and will make an offer “reasoned” And “reasonable“, we explain to franceinfo. The platform had spent 250 million euros two years ago, while the LFP is now demanding 530 million for the same lot. A new kid has joined the candidates : DAZN. The British platform will position itself on the two main lots proposed by the League, explains a source close to the group to franceinfo. BeIN Sports could also apply for the second lot, that of the rest of the posters.

When will we know the result of the call for tenders?

Candidates had until October 16 to position themselves. LFP officials spent the night from Monday to Tuesday in self-sufficiency in a Parisian law firm. Without cell phones, without internet, they know the main candidates. From 10 a.m., Tuesday October 17, the auctions begin between the media deemed “viable” and who will share the five lots on offer. If the first lot does not find a buyer for 530 million euros, the call for tenders could be judged unsuccessful. From that moment, the leaders of the League will be able to discuss privately with each of the candidates.

Amazon and Canal + share the broadcasting rights for Ligue 1 until 2024.