Black screen and salary delays in Monaco, the giant micmac Alexei Fedorychev shakes French basketball

The eclipse in the broadcasting of the French championship revealed a dependence of French basketball on the Russian-Hungarian-Monegasque businessman Alexei Fedorychev, with caps as numerous as his nationalities. At the same time owner of the Monaco club, sponsor of the rival, Asvel, and broadcaster of the Elite, Fedorychev is targeted by a set of sanctions from the Ukrainian authorities which “complicates banking transactions“, according to his Monegasque lawyer Arnaud Zabaldano.

While awaiting a distant outcome of the appeals against these restrictive measures also targeting three of its companies (Fedcominvest Europe, Fedcom Invest and Fedcominvest Monaco), the effects are being felt on the orange ball. Gold “no deliberation date is foreseeable given the state of the situation in the country“, estimates his council.

This uncertain context can create tension among certain players, especially since the final phase of C1 also marks the start of the transfer window. “The Euroleague market has started. With half of the teams eliminated, agents received offers from teams for their players“, observes a French basketball player. “If they refuse them and in three or four weeks, they find themselves with nothing because the Monegasque project is failing, the damage would be enormous.“.

The entire championship returned to the screens after 17 matches not broadcast by the Skweek platform, owned by Alexei Fedorychev, due to two million euros in unpaid debts to the group’s production company L’Equipe, 21 Prod, to whom nothing has been paid since November. “Is a company going to want to work with them when they didn’t pay their predecessor?“, a club president asked AFP this week. Obviously yes, Skweek has hired the services of another service provider and no longer works with 21 Prod, its boss Oleg told AFP. Petrov.

The fact remains that Monaco, present in the quarter-finals of the Euroleague, lacks exposure. This is evidenced by the platform’s decision to broadcast its second match against Fenerbahçe for free on Friday. The poster should also have been broadcast by the L’Equipe channel, as was the case for certain regular season matches this season. Except that it was Skweek who had the rights, sublicensed to its partner as part of one of the contracts terminated by the L’Equipe group on April 17.

A sign of the uncertainties surrounding Skweek, the president of the League Philippe Ausseur had advised clubs at the start of the season not to budget for the 50,000 to 100,000 euros in TV rights planned, a president told AFP.

Still, the situation is not comparable with the Mediapro fiasco in football. These sums remain modest compared to the six million euros median budget in Elite. “Fedcom sponsored football (in Monaco, Editor’s note) with millions for years. Who could imagine what is happening now?“, adds the president of Nanterre Frédéric Donnadieu, requested by AFP. He recalls in passing that unlike Ligue 1, no other broadcaster wanted to broadcast the Elite. “There was no other choicesupports Frédéric Donnadieu, member of the LNB steering committee. I am from the new team at the head of the League but like the old one, I would have signed“.

With this slowdown in ASVEL, it is the other locomotive of the championship, behind Monaco, which is reducing its sail. However, the emergence of a third driving force, with the rise of Paris Basketball, winner of the Eurocup, clears the picture a little.