The paradox of Ligue 1, between record attendances in stadiums and the risk of invisibility on television

The French championship resumes on Friday. While attendance at stadiums has increased in recent years, the arrival of eight matches per day on a new channel, DAZN, is causing concern.

This is a Ligue 1 season that is not starting like any other. On Friday, August 16 at 8:45 p.m., the British platform DAZN is making its entry into the history of French football by broadcasting its first match, Le Havre-PSG. An arrival in the media landscape that has so far received a mixed reception. However, the French championship has achieved historic attendances in stadiums in recent years and is experiencing strong enthusiasm. Franceinfo returns to this strange paradox.

On May 31, the Professional Football League (LFP) welcomed this enthusiasm in a press release. The average attendance in first division stadiums for the 2023-2024 season rose to 27,113 spectators. An increase of 14% compared to the 2022-2023 season and, above all, the best historical attendance ever recorded for the French championship. Ligue 1 is now approaching the averages observed in major European countries, such as Spain (29,000 average last season) or Italy (31,000 average), but still far from England and Germany.

The occupancy rate of 85.4%, up four points compared to the previous season, is also historic and demonstrates the appeal of the French championship. These attendances, which have been constantly increasing over the last five years, are exceptional because they take into account the very many stand closures ordered by the LFP disciplinary committee.

For the 2024-2025 season again, the figures from the subscription campaigns indicate that 10 of the 18 clubs saw their number of subscriptions increase again this summer. A good omen for attendances in stadiums in France. The new DAZN channel could therefore ride the wave and benefit from this growing interest from the general public. But shortly after the acquisition of the rights, the announcement of the prices cooled a significant number of supporters.

The British platform offers three main offers. A monthly subscription without commitment at 39.99 euros. A subscription with a one-year commitment at 29.99 euros per month. Finally, a one-match offer, the one on Sunday at 5 p.m., is offered for 14.99 euros per month. The minimum amount to pay for a football fan to watch the entire championship is now 45 euros per month: 29.99 euros per month for a one-year subscription to DAZN, and 15 euros for the poster owned by beIN Sports, the other broadcaster of the championship. An amount that excludes many fans who cannot afford to pay such an amount.

“This offer corresponds more to the broadcaster’s economy than to the supporter’s economysays Vincent Chaudel, founder of the Sports Business Observatory. We have a broadcaster that is a pure player, a broadcaster only of sports. DAZN cannot make money or attract subscribers with another offer, as Canal+ can do with cinema or as Amazon could do by selling products or other services. The difficulty for DAZN is to offer a price that allows it to attract subscribers, but also to reach its economic break-even point. So that is a subject that makes the proposed price not the most attractive or the sexiest that could be.”

DAZN’s more expensive offer is also a degraded offer compared to previous seasons. Only two screens for the whole family, the end of the Sunday multiplex giving way to three matches in full at the same time, a majority of matches without consultants, no weekend debrief show. In these conditions, it is difficult to imagine the channel reaching its objectives of 1.5 million subscribers in six months.

The entire French football ecosystem therefore fears a fiasco like that of Mediapro. The Spanish group and its Téléfoot channel had to return the rights mid-season in 2021, due to lack of profitability and a sufficient number of subscribers. For 29.90 euros, the same price as DAZN, it nevertheless offered Ligue 1, but also Ligue 2, the Champions League, the Europa League and Netflix.

In an interview with the newspaper The Team, DAZN World CEO Shay Segev calls DAZN’s €29.99 offer “a fair price” and believes in the success of his channel, which paid 400 million euros to obtain the rights.

“The economic future depends partly on the success of the product we have to sell now, but almost no one is promoting it.”

Vincent Chaudel, founder of the Sports Business Observatory

to franceinfo

“I insist on the fact that it is in the interest of the entire ecosystem of French football for this to work.explains Vincent Chaudel. Because if it works well, channels will come back to offer as much, if not more. But if it fails, other media will come with TV rights price proposals lower than 400 million euros, since we will not have succeeded with that price. So it’s really not a good idea.”

In France, the risk of the championship becoming invisible is low, according to Vincent Chaudel. “I don’t believe it. Because that risk was the Mediapro risk since Mediapro didn’t have distribution agreements. DAZN has distribution agreements with Canal+, with Amazon as well. There is also an agreement with Free. So there will be visibility.”

Despite everything, the hashtag #BoycottDAZN has been noticed a few days before the resumption of the championship and influential followers of the championship do not hide their concerns.

However, there is a real risk of invisibility in the world because, at the same time, the LFP no longer has a broadcasting contract in England, Spain, Italy, North Africa, the Middle East and the United States. Across the Channel, no broadcaster has positioned itself to acquire the rights. A black screen in such markets would be yet another blow to the Ligue 1 brand and to the clubs’ revenues, which have already emerged weakened from the Covid crisis.