Paris (AFP)
With the resumption of the Bundesliga this weekend, it is "good news" on which will try to surf the French sports media, at the forefront of which are the broadcaster beIN and the daily L'Equipe, battered by the judgment competitions.
"The South Korean championship has already resumed too but we cannot say that it interested our readers", recognizes Jérôme Cazadieu, editorial director of L'Equipe, happy to see the stars of Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund enhance the crampons.
The sports daily already plans to devote its front page to the Bundesliga on Saturday and Sunday, except for unforeseen events. With, in the inside pages, "a big paper on Saturday then a subject in bars, around the stadiums where games are played behind closed doors", as well as an interview with a French player possibly.
"It will be a treatment similar to Boxing Day", these matches traditionally played on December 26 in England, continues Mr. Cazadieu. "We send a reporter with a photographer to Germany. He starts Saturday in the Ruhr for the first big derby" between Dortmund and Schalke 04.
For the occasion, L'Equipe should "increase the circulation" of the paper newspaper a little, multiply the number of matches commented live on its site and hope for a return from advertisers. "For the bettors, it will be an important recovery, which will be doubled by the resumption of the Portuguese championship on May 30 and 31, then Spain" in June, he comments.
The return of "Fussball" also makes people happy with beIN Sports, broadcaster of the German championship in France.
The start of the weekend will be given by Darren Tulett and Jean-Pierre Papin on Saturday early in the afternoon, the program "Champions Arena" serving as an aperitif before a first multiplex comprising five live matches.
- Fill a gap" -
Bayern's trip to Union Berlin will liven up the Sunday grid, after Cologne-Mainz. The 26th day will close on Monday with "Die Bulischau", a 26-minute program which will summarize the matches played and present the latest poster between Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, broadcast at 8:30 p.m.
"In normal times, the Bundesliga is already very well covered with up to six full matches per weekend. This time, since it is the first and only championship to resume, we have decided to offer all of the nine live weekend meetings ", explains AFP Florent Houzot, director of antennas for beIN Sports.
According to him, "there has really been a shortage for two months" that the chain will be able to fill thanks to its "very diverse and very dense catalog". The group can "position itself as the first channel to offer live sports again", he says.
The situation is less rosy on the side of Canal Plus, broadcaster of Ligue 1, whose season has been stopped definitively, and the Premier League, suspended in England pending a possible resumption in June.
"We will deal with Bundesliga news in our broadcasts and on digital. And as a reminder, the beIN channels are in the Sport Canal pack, so our subscribers will be able to follow the championship," said a spokeswoman for the encrypted channel, whose emblematic program Canal Football Club will return to the air on Sunday.
As for RMC Sport, broadcaster of a Champions League currently suspended, no purchase of images or broadcasting is planned.
On the radio side, the group will, however, offer a special "RMC Football Show" Bundesliga Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. The derby between Dortmund and Schalke will also be commented live while a special envoy on site will describe the atmosphere around the stadium.
tsz-fpo-sr-ama-jta / jed / av
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