“We are not far from sinking.” The observation stings like a warning, yet another one, aimed at the leaders of French football. It was formulated during a press conference, on the afternoon of Thursday, September 12, by Laurent Lafon (Union centriste), president of the Senate’s information mission on the financialization of football. Five months after its launch, the senator from Val-de-Marne was accompanied by Michel Savin (Les Républicains), senator from Isère and rapporteur of the commission, to “a progress report”.
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Earlier in the day, the two parliamentarians had visited the premises of the Professional Football League (LFP) and its commercial subsidiary, LFP Media, located in the 17the arrondissement of Paris. They recovered some documents and interviewed three executives: Arnaud Rouger and Sébastien Cazali, respectively general director and financial director of the LFP, and Benjamin Morel, general director of LFP Media. Vincent Labrune, recently re-elected president of the institution on Tuesday, was, however, absent.
After having conducted around fifty hearings, Laurent Lafon and Michel Savin were therefore keen to provide initial observations following their work, the objective of which is “to take stock of the financialization of professional football”particularly after the conclusion of the agreement between the LFP and the investment fund CVC Capital Partners. In April 2022, the latter injected 1.5 billion euros into French football in exchange for the lifetime acquisition of 13% of the rights of LFP Media, a commercial company created for the occasion.
“The risk of a two-speed championship”
Two years after the conclusion of this agreement, the two senators criticized the use of these new resources. “What did the clubs do with CVC’s €1.5 billion contribution?”asks Michel Savin, who is also and above all targeting the League. “The stakes of the debate [en 2022]it was to provide additional resources to the clubs to be competitive on a European scale, not to enrich the League”he adds.
The documents provided by the LFP reveal that, since 2022, it has been living extravagantly: its workforce has increased from 77 to 137, its payroll has increased from 7 to 17.5 million euros, its president’s salary has tripled – to reach 1.2 million euros per year – and the League has acquired new premises estimated at 131 million euros. “We can see that there is a contrast between the lifestyle of the League and the financial situation of the clubs”assure Michel Savin.
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