Paris (AFP)
The idyll continues between Canal + and the Top 14, whose encrypted channel will remain the sole broadcaster until 2027 after winning on Tuesday, for a total amount of 113.6 million euros per season from 2023, the tender for the TV rights of the competition.
This is an "increase of 17% compared to the current amount of rights," said the National Rugby League (LNR) in a statement, which had set the reserve price at 105 million euros per season. for all three prizes involved, all awarded to Canal +.
Packs 1 and 2 covered the rights to broadcast matches live and in full, as well as magazines, and pack 3 covered competition coverage in the form of near-live clips and summaries for digital exploitation .
"The success of this call for tenders is the result of several years of construction and strong political choices to make the Top 14 a great competition", welcomed in the press release the president of the LNR Paul Goze.
"The new increase in audiovisual rights resulting from this call for tenders will allow professional rugby and all of French rugby to continue its development dynamic," he added.
Canal + was awarded the rights in 2018 until the end of the 2022-2023 season for 97 million per season.
- "Financial guarantees" -
"We can only welcome this new partnership with the historic Top 14 broadcaster, his confidence in French rugby and his commitment to our side", also commented in the press release the general manager of the LNR Emmanuel Eschalier.
"Canal + will know how to best expose and promote the championship and its players through its editorial expertise and its capacity for innovation".
Launched at the end of January, two and a half years from the deadline, the call for tenders then caught some leaders of the Top 14 clubs by surprise, disconcerted by the timing of this announcement, at the heart of a health and economic crisis. world, in full arm wrestling between Canal + and the Professional Football League (LFP), and before the election to the presidency of the LNR, scheduled for March 23.
"It is customary for all calls for tenders to be launched very early in relation to the expiry of the contract," replied Paul Goze, assuring that he had provided that of the LNR with "a certain number of financial guarantees (.. .) taking into account the general context ".
He wanted in particular to avoid the worries encountered by Ligue 1 football, whose TV rights had been left vacant by the Sino-Spanish group Mediapro, unable to honor its promise of a windfall exceeding 800 million euros per year.
Canal + finally found an agreement with the LFP in early February to recover the vacant rights until the end of the season.
This return of football on the encrypted channel had the immediate effect of shifting the best poster of the Top 14 from Sunday to Saturday evening.
© 2021 AFP