Vincent Labrune did not mince his words. Questioned this Tuesday afternoon, at a press conference, about the doubts he had expressed in The Team on June 6 on the participation of Canal + in the next call for tenders for Ligue 1 broadcasting rights, the response from the president of the League came out: “I didn’t say I doubted, I was much more affirmative than that! ».
In the interview published in our columns, he declared: “In France, it’s a little more complicated, especially when the major player, Canal +, does not wish to participate. » This assertion surprised the managers of the encrypted channel, who never announced their intentions, either officially or behind the scenes.
The only certainty is that Canal + has still not digested the agreement signed in June 2021 between the LFP and Amazon for 80% of the rights to the L1 at €250 million per season after the failure of Mediapro, when it had to for its part continue to pay €332 million for 20% of the meetings based on the 2018 call for tenders.
Labrune prefers to anticipate the “without Canal +” option
The various procedures she has launched have yielded nothing, but the feeling of betrayal is tenacious… and contacts with the League are more than limited. Tuesday, after his first dig, Vincent Labrune nevertheless recalled that “Canal + is a historic player, an important partner for the LFP. We will let them calmly analyze and reflect on the relevance or not of investing and coming alongside us, we will see what happens on October 17. »
Always with the perspective of no longer being dependent on the intentions of its historic partner, the boss of the League therefore prefers to anticipate the “without Canal +” option and launch the software of possible alternatives. “We have exchanged a lot with a very large number of French and international broadcasters for almost a yearhe specified in particular, without drawing up a list. We are approaching this call for tenders with relative serenity. »