Vincent Labrune’s cash outing on DAZN

On September 10, Vincent Labrune was officially re-elected president of the Professional Football League. In competition with Cyril Linette, the former president of Olympique de Marseille kept his seat until 2028. However, there were numerous criticisms against him, particularly concerning the management of TV rights for the French championship. But Labrune remains solid on his feet concerning this subject which he will drag like a ball and chain.

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Labrune defends himself again

In fact, he had promised to obtain 1 billion euros per season. But in the end, he had to revise his ambitions significantly downwards since he only managed to obtain €500 million for the broadcast of our beloved Ligue 1 on DAZN et beIN Sports. A huge flop for the boss of the LFP, who also suffers from comparison with other championships. A few days ago, Bundesliga broadcast rights were sold for 1.12 billion euros in Germany. Enough to put even more emphasis on the failures of Vincent Labrune.

Once again sent against the ropes, he came out of silence this Friday morning during an interview given to the daily newspaper The Parisian. “We cannot compare Italy, Spain, Germany, England which have a strong football culture with France,” replies the president of the LFP. To summarize, we discovered football in 1998. But I believe that there is a fair price which probably seems to me to be a little higher than what we have today. […] All our revenue centers are growing strongly, except for domestic TV rights.”

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He explains himself on DAZN

He also clarified that DAZN “achieved the feat of launching a product in less than two weeks without any bugs or black screens. Then yes, they may have made a mistake by hitting the prices a little hard at the start. But we all learn as we go. We are fully behind them.” Then, he mentioned the prices charged by DAZN concerning subscriptions (40 euros then 29.99 euros). “This would have been the case if we had been overwhelmed by offers”he recalled.

Finally, he was questioned again about the famous number of subscribers. And he was very clear on the subject. “I won’t give you a number. I can only tell you that they did not live up to their predictions. But it is linked to a major effect: piracy. Out of three people who watch Ligue 1, only one pays at the moment. It’s extremely serious. It is the most pirated product in France. We need radical decisions.” It remains to be seen whether the Professional Football League will succeed in winning its case.