With an amount of only 500 million euros per season, the TV rights of Ligue 1 are in free fall. A worrying situation, in particular for the most modest clubs in the championship.
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They expected, a few years ago, to exceed a billion and today find themselves with a set-up of only 500 million euros per season. The presidents of Ligue 1 clubs can have cold sweats. An economic collapse that will hit the “small clubs” of the championship more severely.
TV rights are the mainstay of professional football’s revenues. Distributed according to different criteria (the season’s sporting ranking, the last five seasons and notoriety), they allow clubs to finance their activity, pay their players or even recruit. Constantly increasing, TV rights suffered a sharp halt in 2021, following the Mediapro fiasco. The Spanish group that had acquired the rights, bringing the total domestic rights to over a billion euros, had to give up during the season due to lack of profitability.
The Professional Football League had managed to bounce back, notably with Amazon Prime, by limiting the damage above 600 million euros per year. But the contract signed with DAZN and beIN Sports for 500 million euros per year, for a period of five years, marks the return to a sum more known since 2005. Added to this is the contract signed by the League with the investment fund CVC, which recovers 13% of the revenue each year. In 2024-2025, CVC will pocket 53 million euros corresponding to the catch-ups of the first two years of the deal in addition to the 13%, bringing the total to more than 100 million euros.
“There is a threat to the clubsassures Jean-Pascal Gayant, professor of economic sciences. The autumn is going to be very complicated for French clubs, because the resources they will have at their disposal should not allow them to meet all their commitments, their deadlines and their payroll.” He concludes: “All the clubs in the second half of the table are extremely dependent on TV rights.”
“This is yet another gap that is being created with the big clubs.”
Jean-Pascal Gayant, sports economistto franceinfo
Because on the other hand, the big guns in the championship, like PSG or OM, will be able to continue on their way. Benefiting from big sponsorship contracts, higher ticket sales and more solid investors, they are not as dependent on TV rights.
The “small clubs” are at risk of bankruptcy. This summer’s transfer window shows that many clubs are not recruiting or are recruiting very little. The case of Stade Brestois is a good example. Qualified for the Champions League, the Finistériens, a brilliant third last season, simply cannot increase the size of their squad. “We lost a lot of money on the domestic rights of Ligue 1stressed the coach, Éric Roy, at a press conference. We have identified 5-6 positions that we need to strengthen this squad and we will try to fill them by the end of the transfer window. But we have no guarantee, no assurance, we will see. Brest is not going to do anything to put itself in danger for the future.” Montpellier, which has already been facing economic difficulties in recent seasons, finds itself in the same situation.
“We are in a financial impasse for both the League and the clubs. The set-up is not up to par at all.”
Jean-Pascal Gayant, sports economistto franceinfo
While TV rights continue to increase in England and Spain, French clubs will see their revenues drop by an average of 60% compared to last season. On the European scene, Ligue 1 teams will find it increasingly difficult to survive.