Candidates have until October 16 to position themselves, before “ascending bidding”. Live broadcast rights for Ligue 1 for the period 2024-2029 have been priced at 800 million euros per season for the French market, the Professional Football League (LFP) announced on Tuesday September 12 during a press conference.
The LFP offers two batches of live matches. Lot 1 is made up of three matches (the first two choices of each day as well as the fourth choice), priced at 530 million euros per season; lot 2 brings together six matches (the third choice and choice matches 5 to 9), priced at 270 million euros.
“Our rights will be marketed for the first time for a period of five years (compared to four previously, Editor’s note), this is very good news for the LFP, our future partners and the consumer,” rejoiced the president of the LFP Vincent Labrune.
“French football has experienced a period of very strong turbulence,” he admitted, referring to the “triple Covid tsunami, forced cessation of the competition, failure of Mediapro”, the Sino-Spanish group which had won the main rights for the period 2020-2024 for a record amount but proved to be unable to honor its commitments. This “immediately convinced us to rethink our model,” added Mr. Labrune.
The unknown Canal
Asked about the high amount and the tight timing of the price, he assured: “We are naturally optimistic, (…) we are used to this type of challenge. »
The passage of the L1 from 20 to 18 clubs, the record crowds in the stadiums at the start of the season as well as the massive recruitment investments this summer by French clubs – the L1 was the second highest spending league in Europe behind the Premier English League -, will help the LFP to sell the rights, he calculates.
Currently and until 2024, Amazon Prime with seven matches and Canal with two matches sharing the broadcasting rights for French football.
The new call for tenders launched on Tuesday carries its share of uncertainties, starting with the behavior of Canal, in conflict with the LFP. French football is also wondering about a possible positioning of the sports streaming platform DAZN.
