Less than two months before the resumption of Ligue 1 on August 16, the elite of French football still does not have a broadcaster. But LFP boss Vincent Labrune ruled out “the disaster hypothesis“. “We are working on the allocation of rights, it is not finished, we are in the middle of negotiations. We have a very complicated and very complex subject which gives uncertainty to clubs“, he admitted to the senators.
After the failure of its call for tenders in the fall of 2023, the Professional Football League, which Labrune has chaired since September 2020, is entangled in over-the-counter negotiations which are not successful in particular because, according to Labrune, Canal+, the historic broadcaster of French football, is currently refusing to participate.
“Canal+ has a strong position on the French market, which is very specific compared to our neighbors, where competition can be expressed more freely. There was a lot of feeling and a strong injury between Canal and French football” he explained to the senators.
Ideally, the LFP wishes to create a 100% Ligue 1 channel supported by the Qatari channel beIN Sports and distributed exclusively by Canal+ for nearly 700 million euros annually. But the encrypted channel assures that this plan A was never presented to it, neither by the League nor by beIN.
I take my part, of course
“We haven’t succeeded so far. I take my share, of course. We do our best. It will undoubtedly be less beneficial for the clubs. But there is a path which is quite simply to turn a theoretical constraint into an opportunity by taking our destiny in our hands with our own media.“, he continued, referring to the League’s famous Plan B.
Vincent Labrune, president of the LFP.
Credit: Getty Images
In this context, the LFP would itself create, with or without the support of beIN, a 100% Ligue 1 channel that it would distribute non-exclusively to Internet service providers (ISPs), broadcasters such as Amazon, DAZN or even Canal+ and to channel distributors via the Internet.
“It would be irresponsible not to work on the hypothesis of a channel if there is no broadcaster. We are working on several hypotheses“, justified Labrune.
This plan B channel could be marketed by monthly subscription at 25 euros excluding taxes. An amount that Labrune did not confirm. “The 25 euros seen in the press are working hypotheses and there are several“, he said.
Labrune confirms his salary
Vincent Labrune also confirmed that his remuneration had been increased to 1.2 million euros gross annually, an amount validated by his board of directors.
“The board of directors of the League, in this case the club presidents, decided to increase my remuneration to 1.2 million euros gross annually, considering the investment that had been mine, the responsibilities that are mine and the European market benchmark“, Labrune argued before the senators.
Detailing before the commission the agreement which links the LFP to CVC, a Luxembourg investment fund which brought 1.5 billion to French professional football against approximately 13% of its commercial revenues, Vincent Labrune explained on the other hand that his remuneration had not been directly increased by the newly created commercial company, nor by CVC.
Last Thursday, Jean-Christophe Germani and Edouard Conques, the two directors of CVC in France, were found wanting before this same commission by asserting that Labrune, president of the commercial company – of which CVC is a shareholder – was not paid for this function, while the president of the commission, Senator Michel Savin, presented them with a document indicating that the commercial company covered 50% of Vincent Labrune’s salary.
