Failing to own the rights to the French championship, devolved to DAZN and BeINsports, Canal+ can boast of having those to the Champions League. And yet, the group, known for its sports-focused offering, could have been deprived of both… because of a stubborn printer. The anecdote was told by Maxime Saada in the columns of “L'Equipe Magazine”, during a behind-the-scenes article on the 40th anniversary of the encrypted channel. “A little before 3 p.m., on November 28, 2019, we had to submit an offer for the rights to the Champions League. At the time, we no longer broadcast it, and a year and a half earlier, we returned without rights to the call for tenders for Ligue 1. This call for tenders is therefore key, the most important right on which I have ever bet”recontextualizes the chairman of the board, under pressure after having ceded for the first time in its history the images of the domestic competition to Mediapro.
A very unwelcome “paper jam”
He continues: “Pierre Lelong, my acquisitions manager at the time, told me: 'In this environment, there are still a lot of kids. So I always send the offer two or three minutes before the deadline. Calmly, he enters my assistant's office to print the offer, have me sign it and scan it at UEFA. But there, paper jam! The clock is ticking and I'm starting to worry.”. Ultimately, Maxime Saada owes his salvation to the perseverance of several of his men, who went looking for another printer at full speed. “A minute and a half later, I see them come back in sweat, a sheet in their hand, I sign it and we scan it… Right on time, in the last seconds of the deadline. History does not say not if UEFA would have accepted it if we had sent it a minute after the deadline”recalls the manager, then victim of the biggest bout of stress of his career as a negotiator.
XXL treatment of the Champions League
Started in 1999, the idyll, sometimes tumultuous, between Canal+ and the most prestigious of continental competitions, will continue, at least, until 2027. The channel has in fact acquired the retransmission rights for all three European Cups. European football in the coming years. For the current season, 546 matches will be offered to its subscribers, including those of the four French clubs (Paris Saint-Germain, Lille, Brest and Monaco) since the broadcaster mobilizes, in addition to its premium antenna, its annex antennas (Canal+ Foot, Canal+ 360 and Canal+ Sport) but also 18 new Canal+ Live channels. A system enriched by a multiplex and the expertise of “renowned consultants” on stage, as the group welcomed.
