After the long saga of the TV rights of the French championship, that of the race for the presidency of the LFP will know its outcome this Tuesday. Who between Vincent Labrune or Cyril Linette will take the head of the Professional Football League? The college of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs meets this Tuesday morning, then the General Assembly at 2:30 p.m. to designate their representatives to the Board of Directors, which will elect the new president at the end of the day.
The former president of Olympique de Marseille (2011-2016) was initially promised a re-election without competition, but the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra asked the Union of Football Actors (UAF) to review its position and grant Cyril Linette his essential sponsorship. “We avoided a re-election by acclamation,” rejoiced the former sports director of Canal +, former general director of L’Équipe then of the PMU, who wants the League to make its know-how speak in the “recovery” of structures “in difficulty”.
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“Sham election”
Regardless, “a sham election is looming,” thinks RC Lens president Joseph Oughourlian, who has given up running for the board. Like many players and observers, he anticipates an easy re-election for Vincent Labrune, supported by several influential club presidents, such as Laurent Nicollin, head of the Foot Unis union and president of Montpellier, or Jean-Pierre Caillot, president of the Ligue 1 college and Stade Rémois.
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And yet, the man who has been at the head of the League since 2020 has gone through major upheavals during his term, and particularly in his last year, for the renegotiation of TV rights. After promising a billion euros per season, and seeing the call for tenders fail, the LFP had to swallow its ambitions and sell for a total of around 500 million euros to DAZN and beIN Sports. A drop compared to the 624 million euros obtained during the previous era, and a disaster for the finances of French clubs, some of which derive most of their income from it. “This is obviously not the result we had initially imagined, but it allows us not to compromise the future,” Jean-Pierre Caillot said at the time.
Piracy as a threat
Still: piracy threatens the financial windfall of clubs from TV rights. DAZN has provoked the ire of many Internet users and supporters with prices deemed prohibitive, which encourage them to look for broadcasts on Telegram or IPTV.
“We are told that we could not do better on the amount of rights because there would be a global crisis in sports rights. Looking at the other leagues, I find it hard to believe,” emphasizes Joseph Oughourlian, while the rights of the Bundesliga or Italian football have stabilized.
READ ALSO >> What Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs will receive from TV rights
“Vincent Labrune is a snake charmer, with a gift of the gab, he thought that would be enough to sell,” criticizes Christophe Bouchet, another former president of Marseille, who wanted to run but did not receive the necessary sponsorships. French leaders “think that football will be stronger than everything, well no, it is less crucial in people’s lives in a landscape of endless entertainment,” he analyzes.
Labrune wants to close the TV rights crisis
Regretting the “violent bashing”, sometimes “bordering on insults” in the media and on social networks, Vincent Labrune’s relatives are already looking ahead to “afterwards” – a sign of great confidence which speaks volumes about the meager suspense.
Vincent Labrune wants to close the TV rights crisis by prioritizing the fight against piracy, by “better promoting the product” – in particular with codes that speak to young people. And he is preparing an overhaul of the criticized governance of the LFP.
This will not prevent the Senate inquiry committee on the financialisation of football from visiting the LFP headquarters after the election, as it announced on 4 September.
