In the comfortable sofa where he sits, Vincent Labrune displays his serenity. “I sleep peacefully”, he repeats, on the terrace of the luxurious Parisian hotel where he has arranged to meet. His body, however, says something completely different: the president of the Professional Football League (LFP) moves nervously on the spot, constantly combs his hair, keeps smoking cigarettes. Entangled in the still unfinished sale of Ligue 1 broadcast rights, the 53-year-old businessman is under pressure, increasingly targeted by criticism resonating above all – for the moment – at outside the circle of football leaders. “It’s starting to annoy me”he concedes in the discussion.
Less than two months before the start of the new Ligue 1 season, the LFP has still not found a broadcaster for the 306 matches of the next championship. The plan on which Mr. Labrune had been counting since the fall, based on a transfer of rights to BeIN Sports then a retrocession of some of them to Canal+, is at a standstill. The Qatari channel, with which the president of the League maintains a good relationship, does not wish to invest alone and assume the entire risk. As for the subsidiary of the Vivendi group, whose major shareholder is Vincent Bolloré, it is in no hurry to reach an agreement. To get a slashed price at the very last moment?
“Until now, neither Mr. Saada [président de Canal+] nor Mr. Bolloré ever wanted to negotiate or even discuss with us”notes the president of the League, who has not met the billionaire since 2016, despite the common friendship which links them to a shadowy matchmaker in this file, Nicolas Sarkozy. “They said what they were going to do and they did what they said. However, we will eventually have to find a way to renew the dialogue by the end of the month [le contrat des droits télévisés pour le cycle 2021-2024 prend fin le 30 juin] : it would be irresponsible to make a decision on our audiovisual rights without having evaluated the possibilities that exist with Canal+, if there are any…” Requested by The worldCanal+ did not respond.
“Difficult commercial negotiation”
Between Canal+ and the LFP, the wire was cut in June 2021, when French football leaders decided to award, for the following three seasons, the broadcasting rights for Ligue 1 to Amazon rather than to the French group. The American giant’s offer guaranteed a minimum revenue of 663 million euros per year, compared to 595 million for that of Canal+. “ Canal+ did not wish to align with Amazon’s proposal at this amount. The clubs were in a very difficult financial situation at that time, they were really close to 70 million euros”continues the ex-communicator, elected head of the League in September 2020, just before the failure of the Spanish broadcaster Mediapro dragged French football into turbulence. “After Mediapro, my absolute priority was to renew ties with Canal+. Unfortunately, this was not possible, despite all our efforts. »
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