Paris (AFP)
Promises, but still "vagueness": even if he reaffirmed that he would honor his contract with Ligue 1, Mediapro has not swept away the concerns of French football, probably deprived for several months of its TV rights, even forced to renegotiate them downwards.
The speech, Wednesday in Paris, of the boss of the Sino-Spanish group Jaume Roures, gave some answers to the clubs, alarmed by the non-payment of the deadline due in October, estimated at 172 M EUR by the daily L ' Team.
Mediapro, he assured, wants to "respect the contract in force", at more than 800 million EUR per year for L1 and L2 until 2024, which is the main channel for funding French professional football.
The Catalan leader nevertheless hopes to renegotiate.
Or rather, in his words, "adapt things for this season", disturbed by the Covid-19, saying "optimistic" on the current conciliation with the League (LFP) in order to reach a "reasonable" solution which can put an end to the crisis.
Work, negotiations and confidentiality: after the bomb dropped by Mediapro, the various players are preparing for a close match behind the scenes, from meeting rooms to videoconferences, the field where the most important part of the new school year is now being played.
"The League and (its president) Vincent Labrune are working hard to find solutions. We will do it step by step", tries to calm Laurent Nicollin, president of Montpellier, satisfied to have seen the LFP take out a loan of 112 M EUR to relieve short-term cash flow.
"For the moment, we are paid. The League manages it expertly to ensure that it is not complicated for the clubs", adds the manager, estimating to have "a respite of a month and a half before the next installment ", while realizing:" If there were to be no TV rights, it would be catastrophic for everyone. "
- Uncertainties on deadlines -
Precisely, Roures hinted that Mediapro would not pay the December deadline either, estimating through the voice of the group's lawyer Guilhem Bremond that the "question of deadlines does not make much sense" in this process conciliation allowing the debtor to freeze his payments.
Enough to maintain uncertainty within the clubs, especially since this conciliation can last up to five months ...
Is Mediapro able to avoid disaster?
"It remains extremely vague", analyzes Philippe Bailly, boss of the consulting firm NPA, specializing in the media.
"We still do not really know what is happening with the Chinese shareholder (Orient Hontai Capital), the 600,000 subscribers claimed remain very far from the target set, and conciliation allows them above all to shelter them and to be able to say: + I do not pay + ".
Doubt is also shared in the spheres of power.
At the Assembly, the study group on the economics of sport, which is conducting hearings on this subject and has heard in particular the LFP, deplored the absence at these hearings, Wednesday, of Mediapro, however invited.
- "The risk exists" -
“There was a desire from Mediapro to calm things down, to be open to conciliation, and then at the same time, they don't come (to the Assembly). I find that quite inconsistent. I am surprised at this. attitude and this disconnection between actions and words, "regrets to AFP Cédric Roussel, LREM deputy president of this study group.
At the same time, in a budget meeting on Monday, the general rapporteur for the budget Laurent Saint-Martin (LREM) has even already estimated that it was "very unlikely" that the income from the Buffet tax (levied on TV rights for sport) is as high in 2021 as they were in 2020, due in particular to the Mediapro affair.
The Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Olivier Dussopt also indicated that "the risk exists", hoping, however, that the discussions "can be successful".
But the counterpart of successful negotiations may be the drop in the amount of TV rights.
"You have to sit down to renegotiate in good faith," Javier Tebas, boss of the powerful Spanish League (LaLiga), linked to Mediapro, which manages the production of matches on behalf of Telefonica, holder of the rights, told AFP. TV in Spain.
Tebas also assures that La Liga has itself negotiated discounts with its broadcasters because of the health situation.
One more argument for Mediapro in France?
ama-ah-jmc-dec / jed / cp
© 2020 AFP