The Sino-Spanish group Mediapro, the main broadcaster of French football, is shaking the ecosystem of Ligue 1 by asking to renegotiate the juicy TV rights, a major resource for clubs with accounts weakened by the pandemic.

The League demands to be paid.

The Professional Football League (LFP) stepped up to the plate Thursday, October 8, announcing that it "refused to grant a delay in payment to Mediapro" for the payment due on October 5, indicating that it wished to donate this windfall (172 million d euros according to L'Equipe) to clubs on October 17, as planned.

This position follows the words of Jaume Roures, the boss of Mediapro, who said in the sports daily wanting to "re-discuss the contract for this season", which he considers "very affected by the Covid-19".

The press release from @LFPfr about @GrupoMEDIAPRO.

The new presidency starts off strong.

pic.twitter.com/zcZLEubxoX

- Julien Froment (@JulienFroment) October 8, 2020

The announcement comes at a critical time, as the pandemic has already damaged club finances.

"It is obvious that the issue of TV rights for football clubs is important. It is a significant part of their income and it would be a cataclysm, after losing a quarter of the income following the cessation of the 2019 championship- 2020, the loss of revenue linked to the ten matches that have not taken place, the current near-closed doors, "feared the president of the Girondins de Bordeaux, Frédéric Longuépée.

At the end of July, a study by the firm EY commissioned by the Premier League clubs union already predicted 605 million euros of loss in turnover due to the end of the championship.

This was without counting the drying up of ticket sales caused by the maximum capacity of 5,000 spectators (or 1,000 in the most affected areas) currently in place.

"When contractual commitments are made, it is a question of respecting them"

A newcomer to the French landscape, Mediapro in 2018 won the bulk of the rights to L1 and L2 for the period 2020-2024, for more than 800 million euros per year, outwitting the historic partner Canal +, at Qatari beIN and the Altice group (RMC Sport).

But barely more than a month after its launch, Mediapro leaves the clubs at its mercy, which derive more than a third of their revenue from TV rights (36% for Ligue 1 in 2018-2019 according to the DNCG, financial policeman French football).

"When contractual commitments are made, it is a question of respecting them", tackled the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu.

"Because it is now a question of the survival not only of professional football, but of football itself," she assured.

And if the broadcasters managed to renegotiate downward the TV rights # Ligue1


With an amount of 1.153 billion €, this is the sharing of the allocations.


The first team could get 79M € and the last 38M €


And then


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- Pierre Rondeau (@Lasciencedufoot) October 9, 2020

Bad omen, especially since the League was already indebted in the spring with a loan guaranteed by the State of 224.5 million euros, compensating for the shortfall in TV rights from the premature end of the Championship.

And one of the arguments most often put forward by French football leaders in the spring to justify stopping the season, namely the importance of "securing" the new round of television rights and therefore the serene launch of the season 2020-2021, now seems to be falling apart ...

Telefoot "lukewarm" launch

If Mediapro is "in a position of strength" in the negotiations, according to football economist Luc Arrondel, the prospects are hardly attractive for the Sino-Spanish group.

“Mediapro is basically an agency. Their initial model was to buy the rights at a very high price and resell them at a profit, speculating on an increase in the market and competition in France. They bet , they lost, "notes Pierre Maes, consultant and author of" Football TV rights business ", interviewed by AFP.

Result, doubts re-emerge vis-à-vis Mediapro and its pay channel Téléfoot, whose great launch was "lukewarm" with regard to subscriptions, according to statements by Jaume Roures to L'Équipe, the Catalan refusing to give figures.

And the football economy, largely based since the 2000s on a continuous increase in TV rights, finds itself faltering with the grim prospect of a "bubble burst".

"Today, the clubs bought their players with the money from Mediapro and offered them long and extremely expensive contracts. Going from this model to a more frugal model is impossible", worries Pierre. Maes.

"For the moment, we are only at a worrying signal, but in the event of failure, I think the clubs will face a Covid power 10 ..."

With AFP

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