The announcement sent a chill. For the first time since its launch in 1984, Canal+ could not participate in the call for tenders for television rights to Ligue 1. The president of the Canal+ Group, Maxime Saada, made this known in a two-page missive. addressed Monday, September 25 to the president of the Professional Football League, Vincent Labrune − and that the sports daily The Team published.
“The conditions are not currently met for the Canal+ Group to submit an offer on October 16 and 17”deadline set by the French League to apply for the call for tenders for the rights to the French football championship for the period 2024-2029.
Mr. Saada criticizes in particular “the unprecedented choice of a fixed and high price”, because the League, hoping to obtain 1 billion euros per year, including 800 million for France, imposed a minimum of 530 million euros for the lot containing the three best matches and 270 million for the six others.
Recurring tensions
For Mr. Saada, the conditions of the call for tenders and its timetable, “late”, Have for goal ” to exclude Canal+ and favor Amazon” (whose subsidiary, Prime Video, is currently the main broadcaster of Ligue 1, with seven out of nine matches). Maxime Saada goes so far as to accuse the LFP of deliberately aiming for failure in order to “free from the legal constraint of a call for applications” And “to be able to negotiate once again directly and in perfectly opaque conditions”.
The LFP responded that “the assertions or insinuations contained in this letter are, moreover, particularly serious”. And added n’voir “no form of agreement with any actor whatsoever”. For the League, public disclosure of the letter is a desire “to undermine the marketing process” Rights.
More than a surprise, this clash between Canal+ and the LFP is the umpteenth episode of recurring tensions: for two years, the subsidiary of Vivendi, Vincent Bolloré’s group, has been trying to prove in court that its prize of two matches, bought for 332 million euros from BeIN Sports, is overvalued compared to that of Amazon (250 million for seven matches, awarded after the failure of the Spanish broadcaster Mediapro which won Ligue 1 in 2020). Without success so far: six days before his letter, Canal+ was rejected for the fifth time.
Negotiate over the counter
If the encrypted channel had, without hesitation, invested 540 million euros per year in 2016 for the three best matches, it now claims to be “in deficit in France”. For Pierre Rondeau, economist and teacher at the Sports Management School, “Canal+ considers that the amounts set by the League are too high”. Furthermore, the pay channel has reduced its dependence on Ligue 1 by offering matches from the Champions League (recently renewed until 2028) and the English championship, in addition to rugby or Formula 1.
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