The Professional Football League is awaiting offers from broadcasters for the TV rights to 80% of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches on Monday, to reallocate matches abandoned by Mediapro.

The attitude of the Canal + group will be particularly scrutinized. 

DECRYPTION

All of French football is crossing its fingers.

While the Mediapro group negotiated its withdrawal in December, the Professional Football League (LFP) expects offers from broadcasters for the TV rights to 80% of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches at noon on Monday, via two market consultations. each comprising several lots.

These consultations relate to the TV rights initially allocated to Mediapro, and correspond to the remaining matches of this season as of February 5, as well as the next three, until the end of the 2023-2024 season.

On the side of the League, we hope the arrival of a solvent broadcaster to come and close the crisis of TV rights, but uncertainty remains, especially around the attitude of Canal +. 

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"We do not expect miracles, but between miracles and catastrophe, there are margins".

This actor close to the file hesitates between fatalism and pragmatism about the TV rights of French football.

With a deteriorated health and economic context, few candidates are expected Monday morning at the headquarters of the LFP.

"A miracle would be that we reach 800 million euros," said the same source to Europe 1.

Canal Plus factor X?

Historical players like BeIn Sport could respond favorably to the call for tenders, just like Canal +, ousted in 2018. The encrypted channel will now play a key role.

"The x factor of this offer is Canal +", analysis for Europe 1 Christophe Lepetit, sports economist at CDES Limoges.

But what will be his position?

"Even though Canal has attacked this call for tenders (lot three, bought from BeIn Sport for 330 million euros by Canal +, is considered overvalued), will the group come or not? the shelter either that if Canal were to lose, it will go to the end of the litigation ", explains Christophe Lepetit.

"You can see that the channel is playing a murky game, it's lying poker." 

In any case, the main players do not expect a boost from the encrypted channel.

"We were told that Vincent Bolloré really wants to undermine French football," slips to Europe 1 one of them, referring to the words of the Breton reported by 

Le Monde

.

Urgent cash flow for clubs ... and the League

And there are many questions.

Are new entrants going to invite themselves?

How much will the League recover?

The League should communicate quickly because there is an emergency.

"The clubs are in dire need of cash," said Christophe Lepetit.

"They have not collected any matchday revenue since the start of the season, and since the last payments from Mediapro, they have hardly collected any TV rights. There is therefore an urgent need, otherwise they will meet again. in default of payment. "

The League itself is in a hurry because it borrowed from the bank JP Morgan 112 million euros last October to compensate for the default of Mediapro.

If on February 5, Canal Plus does not pay its bill as the chairman of the director Maxime Saada has implied in the columns of

Figaro

, then the LFP could find itself unable to repay the loan it has contracted.

What about the distribution of OM-PSG?

In a perfect world, the LFP hopes to announce at the very beginning of the week the acquirers of the rights.

In the meantime, the Telefoot channel, which was supposed to stop Sunday evening after the broadcast of the Nantes-Monaco match, for lack of a solution, will broadcast the 23rd day on Wednesday.

But we still do not know by whom will be broadcast the 24th day of Ligue 1, and the clash between Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain.

"It is absolute vagueness," annoys a leader.

"I can't wait for other players to arrive and stop broadcasting football for free," he concludes bitterly.

Submission of applications, instructions for use

Candidates for the purchase of lots put up for sale by the LFP will be able to submit their files between 10 and 12 noon at the seat of the instance.

Then, it is the president of the League Vincent Labrune and a steering committee of the League, composed of Jacques-Henri Eyraud (OM), Jean-Pierre Caillot (Reims), Jean-Michel Aulas (OL), Christian Leca ( AC Ajaccio) and Philippe Piat (UNFP), who will study the offers between 12 and 6 p.m. before giving their recommendations.

The lucky ones could be known the same evening or in the next few days.