The offices of the LFP in Paris (photo illustration).

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FRANCK FIFE / AFP

  • The new call for tenders from the LFP for the TV rights of L1 and L2 ended in failure.

  • None of the offers from Amazon, Discovery, and DAZN reach the reserve price.

  • The LFP has less and less room for maneuver and "is sinking into the swamp", believes Pierre Maes, author of the book "Le business des droits TV du foot"

The cooling-off period comes to an end on Wednesday.

After being notified on Monday that the tender for the TV rights to Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, previously held by Mediapro (lots 1 and 2), ended in failure, the Professional Football League had given itself "48 hours to define the next steps in the marketing of its rights".

Considering how she prepared this auction and the little room left for debate after the consultation of the results, we are not sure to have to expect much from these two days of consultation.

On Monday, shortly after 6:00 p.m., members of the League's Board of Directors (Board of Directors) were informed that none of the offers from Amazon, Discovery and DAZN would be accepted for failure to reach the reserve price.

The way left a bitter taste.

“It lasted five minutes, we were not told anything, apart from the names of the candidates, one of them tells.

Some leaders were furious.

Gervais Martel was one of them, as

L'Equipe

wrote on

Tuesday morning.

Contacted, he did not want to add more.

No more success with other board members.

The concern is there, but it is still too early, perhaps, to make it known publicly.

Lawyers on the move, club leaders in retreat

However, it is the survival of French football that is at stake.

This unsuccessful call for tenders is a new blow for professional clubs, which already anticipate losses of 1.3 billion euros at the end of the season, between coronavirus and the Mediapro affair.

The vagueness remains total.

“We have no idea what will happen in the next few hours.

We really have the impression that it is in the hands of three to four people ”, resumes this member of the Board of Directors, with reference to the reserve price, known by Vincent Labrune, but whose secret escapes even the members of the committee. piloting.

Consultation of the minutes of the preparatory meeting for this call for tenders, which was held on January 14, leaves little room for doubt as to the preponderant role of lawyers in this maneuver as opposed to that of managers whose clubs risk asphyxiation, relegated to the rank of spectators.

This came down to a presentation by Yves Wehrli, the League's adviser on these issues.

“He explains that the call for tenders is what must be done legally, to avoid any risk [in relation to Canal +, which contests it].

There is no one else speaking and the League decides to follow this advice.

We have the feeling that there is no one who is a judge and who could pilot the maneuver, ”said Pierre Maes.

Extract from the minutes of the LFP board of directors of January 14, 2021. - Screenshot

According to the author of the book "The football TV rights business", the League's stubbornness in wanting to put the prizes back to the pot, rather than taking a step towards Canal +, is counterproductive.

“She sinks into the swamp, and each time loses a little more dignity.

Everyone makes fun of the LFP, it's never seen, ”he observes, with reference to these two listeners of RMC radio, who officially filed on Monday before the bailiff an offer of… 156 euros, for both lots.

"And when TF1, France 2 and M6 offer to broadcast matches in the clear, it is also shooting the ambulance," adds Maes.

It must be said that finding himself in the position of having to leave his flagship poster of the season - OM-PSG on Sunday evening - to an actor who has not paid for months does not help.

What are the options of the LFP now?

If she can discuss over-the-counter with the three players who declared themselves Monday, a rapprochement with Canal + seems inevitable.

"We must find a little dignity, launches the specialist.

I hope that Canal is not the enemy of the League because it is the only channel that has the money for it.

The LFP should politely ask her what she is ready to give.

"

The "surprise guest" will not come ...

President Vincent Labrune can indeed relaunch Canal on the oral offer issued last month, namely 590 million euros + 100 of variables for all the rights of Ligue 1, as reported by

L'Equipe

.

The merger can also be done through a new call for tenders, which this time would include the famous lot number 3 that Canal wants to return.

Their interests converge, logic would therefore like that… But the League still has to face the facts.

And that the members of the steering committee stop turning their heads.

"Last time there was a surprise guest, why wouldn't there be one now?"

», Launched the Reims president Jean-Pierre Caillot Monday before opening the envelopes, when Jean-Michel Aulas for his part pretended not to see the problem with the boycott of Canal + and beIN Sport. 

The lessons of introspection unleashed by the Mediapro fiasco, from which a sort of general blindness emerged, with leaders unresponsive to different red flags, may not yet be fully understood.

It should also be noted that some players in the 2018 call for tenders are still at the heart of the process.

Sport

TV rights: As expected, the tender for the L1 was a total furnace (no lot reached the reserve price)

Sport

Mediapro: How could French football have failed at this point?

  • Sport

  • TV rights

  • League 1

  • League 2

  • LFP

  • Vincent labrune