Paris (AFP)
In crisis, French football will not be saved on Monday by Canal + and beIN Sports: the two channels did not participate in the call for tenders for Ligue 1 TV rights and only the miraculous irruption of an unexpected broadcaster seems able to avoid an unsuccessful procedure.
At 12 noon at the Parisian headquarters of the Professional Football League (LFP), the finding was clear and cruel for the leaders of pro football: the two main broadcasters in recent years have not made an offer to take over all or part of the matches abandoned by the failing broadcaster Mediapro in December (80% of L1 and L2) ...
The encrypted channel, which disputes the terms of the market consultation procedure launched by the LFP on January 19, did not want to be, according to a source with knowledge of the file confirming information from L'Equipe and France Info.
And according to another source familiar with the matter, the Qatari group, whose boss Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is also that of Paris SG, has not submitted an offer either for the resumption of the L1, nor for that matter. the L2.
This is almost the worst-case scenario for the LFP and the clubs, who already anticipate losses of 1.3 billion euros at the end of the season, between pandemic and crisis in television rights ... They are now crossing their fingers that 'a miracle occurs in the afternoon, with the unexpected irruption of a saving diffuser.
- "There are envelopes" -
"If I am here, it is because there are envelopes", slipped the president of Reims Jean-Pierre Caillot at 2:30 pm, on his arrival at the League.
"Last time there was a surprise guest, why wouldn't there be one now?"
he added.
The absence of Canal and beIN, "they had announced it for a long time," added Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Lyon.
"The important thing is that there are plenty of others," he added.
The two leaders are part of the steering committee responsible for unsealing the envelopes in the afternoon.
But which actor will have the financial capacity to formulate an offer higher than the minimum "reserve" prices set by the League for each of its six sets of matches (4 in L1, 2 in L2)?
Amazon, the web giant that is starting to invest in sports rights, is the most cited, but its forays elsewhere in Europe remain limited.
Asked by AFP, the group did not wish to comment, like Canal + and beIN Sports, as well as Altice, parent company of SFR / RMC Sport, and DAZN, the sports streaming platform also mentioned.
The Sino-Spanish group Mediapro, winner of the initial call for tenders in 2018 for more than 800 million euros per year in total, before showing itself unable to settle its deadlines this fall and negotiate its withdrawal, has for its part logically confirmed to AFP not to be among the candidates.
Its Téléfoot channel continues to broadcast the matches during this transition period, at least until February 3.
But Jean-Michel Roussier, the editorial director of Téléfoot, took part in the call for tenders in his own name in terms that remain to be clarified, a source close to the file told AFP, confirming information from L 'Team.
- The remedies of Canal -
The offers must be studied before Monday evening, with a view to a potential allocation from February 5, two days before the OM-PSG "Classic", if they are high enough.
Otherwise, or if there is no candidate for certain lots, discussions will follow over the next few days and concerns will resume for the clubs.
It will be all the stronger as the LFP and Canal + are in the midst of a legal dispute over the terms of the call for tenders and that beIN, via its absence of offers on Monday, seems to have definitely sided with the channel. encrypted.
Canal +, which broadcasts the remaining 20% of Ligue 1 for 330 million euros per year, considers that it has "overvalued" the value of these matches in the context of 2018 and wants all matches to be put back into competition. in a global call for tenders.
The group has appealed to the Paris Commercial Court to this effect, with a hearing scheduled for February 19 which could invalidate the procedure a posteriori.
And the Competition Authority confirmed to AFP on Monday that it had also been seized by Canal +, without further details, as the daily Le Figaro indicated in recent days.
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© 2021 AFP