Jaume Roures intends to honor his contract with the LFP.

-

FRANCK FIFE / AFP

  • Jaume Roures held a press conference to justify the position of Mediapro, which has not paid the last installment of its contract to the LFP.

  • The president of the Sino-Spanish group tried to reassure French football players, explaining that he intended to respect his contract.

  • Mediapro and the League have started a conciliation procedure which can last several months, and which is not guaranteed to succeed.

Arriving at the very chic Pavillon Dauphine, near the Bois du Boulogne, we found ourselves imagining a suicide in the form of fireworks.

Champagne at will, petits fours from Fauchon, and Jaume Roures who advises us to take some for the house, "because we spent all the money there, Ligue 1 will not have a radish, hahahah we Father Quillot had it!

".

Obviously, it turned out a little differently.

The Catalan tycoon, who has already sprayed French football with gasoline by refusing to pay the October deadline, did not want to strike the match.

Jaume Roures, October 21, 2020 in Paris.

- FRANCK FIFE / AFP

A very mysterious conciliation procedure

However, we have not advanced an inch.

Everything is suspended in a conciliation procedure with the LPF which can last up to five months and on which neither Roures nor his lawyer wished to extend, apart from showing their confidence in the process.

“I do not see why we would not find solutions, I have confidence in the League, and I think that the bond of confidence is not irreparably broken.

This is not the first economic crisis that French football is experiencing ”.

What exactly is the main L1 broadcaster looking for: a rebate?

A postponement of the deadlines planned for 2020?

The boss of Mediapro was vague on this point, like almost everything else.

“We're talking about this season, not the entire contract”.

The Chinese shareholder?

"We have four shareholders, some from the start. In the same way we financed the launch of the channel, the shareholders are there to support the company during this period."

#Mediapro

- J. Laloye (@Zonemixte) October 21, 2020

Roures was there to try to reassure his people.

Subscribers, who can continue "to subscribe to the best offer in Europe", according to him.

He dropped the figure of 600,000 subscriptions since August, in addition to those of operators, which is only his responsibility, even if it is more than announced by some media.

“I have come to ensure that Téléfoot will continue.

I invite all viewers to watch our channel, we were there yesterday for the C1, we will be there tomorrow for the Europa League, no one can deny this reality.

We have not overpaid Ligue 1, we think there are subscribers to consume football ”.

"We have not overpaid Ligue 1, we will respect our contract"

Mediapro did not overpay, therefore, but neither did it pay.

And he will not let go a penny more before the end of the conciliation procedure, which concretely means that the French clubs can already say goodbye to the December deadline.

While a famous rating agency estimates the cash flow of the Sino-Spanish group at barely 113 million euros at the beginning of September, does the latter have the means to pay, even if he wanted to?

That's the crux of the matter, and Roures hasn't clarified much about it.

“We are affected like everyone else, but we have always kept our commitments.

It's a group of 7000 people, a turnover of almost two billion, we are not just anyone ”.

But still ?

"We are not the only ones experiencing economic difficulties with the Covid and wanting to renegotiate contracts.

But I did not say that we did not have the possibility of paying ”.

December deadline also suspended

Recalling opportunely that Canal and BeIN had opened hostilities last March when the championship was interrupted, by refusing to pay, Roures threw a modest veil over his interventions at the time, when he lectured his competitors, not damn it to honor a contract signed with French football.

The latter can continue to worry, even if part of Roures' arguments are: “we cannot do as before.

The bars are closed, people can no longer socialize in front of football, there are fewer people in front of the matches ”.

What he could guess last spring, when he was lecturing in every interview.

"I repeat: we will respect the contract, and we will pay what comes out of the conciliation agreement?

»And if the latter does not succeed?

Dead silence at the microphone.

Sport

Mediapro: How could French football have failed at this point?

TV rights: Canal + requests the same preferential treatment in the event of renegotiation between Mediapro and the LFP


  • League 1

  • Soccer

  • Sport

  • Canal Plus

  • Mediapro

  • TV rights