“Come closer, come closer, my Ligue 1 is beautiful, she is beautiful! “. It’s pretty much like that as Vincent Labrune, the boss of the LFP, currently imagines: behind his small market stall, trying in vain to lure the customer to hand him the next TV rights for French football for the period 2024-2029 . And for the moment, we can’t say that things are really happening at the gate.
It’s not complicated, at the moment only one potential buyer has knocked on the door of the Professional Football League – which is never a good sign in business for negotiations – it’s about DAZN. According to RMC Sportafter a first discounted offer estimated at 500 million euros immediately rejected, the two parties would have decided to reopen a dialogue which would be constructive.
“These exchanges should intensify in the next fortnight,” affirm our colleagues. It’s a start, let’s say, even if the positions are still very, very far apart since, for its part, the LFP hopes to recover no less than 900 million euros in total, including domestic rights and international rights. . The only thing is, it’s difficult to raise the bids to the ceiling when you don’t have any other offers from a competitor.
The LFP in search of a second potential buyer
Rumor has been circulating for a while now that Vincent Labrune would try to convince beIN Sports to enter the race, without this leading to anything concrete. Without going so far as to say that time is running out, we should also not allow this story to drag on for too long and end up with a Ligue 1 without the slightest broadcaster at the start of the next season.
The LFP was, however, relatively confident about the attractiveness of its championship when it teamed up with CVC, the investment fund having given 1.5 billion euros to French football in exchange for 13% of the LFP’s revenues. and his new commercial company. A deal criticized from all sides which is now the subject of a preliminary investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. It seems a long way from the time when Vincent Labrune declared after signing the operation with CVC that French football was “saved”.