TV rights: Olympique Lyonnais contests the contract between the LFP and beIN Sports

How long can the agreement around Ligue 1 TV rights continue like this? While beIN Sports, second player with DAZN, has signed a contract with the Professional Football League (LFP) to obtain the transfer of a championship poster between 2024 and 2029 in exchange for 80 million euros annually in rights and 20 million euros in sponsorship, the bill is slow to be paid. The Qatari channel has still not paid anything to the LFP and the clubs received the amount corresponding to the TV rights reduced by 24% from beIN Sports. A situation that Olympique Lyonnais can no longer tolerate.

According to L’Équipe, the club led by the American John Textor, one of the most vindictive in the matter of TV rights sold to the DAZN-beIN Sports duo this summer, sent a letter to Vincent Labrune, president of the LFP, to challenge the current agreement. By urgently demanding, first of all, the LFP to take the “necessary steps to recover the sums owed by beIN Sports”. Before developing his point of view on the contract initialed in July to ensure the broadcast of Ligue 1 after months of uncertainty.

“This agreement does not respect competition rules”

By targeting in particular the 20 million euros in sponsorship, via the Qatar Tourism brand. Olympique Lyonnais denounces this “sponsorship deal” in which it is “forced to make available to the partner retained by the LFP an inventory of marketing rights – otherwise undefined – for a value of 738,000 euros, in order to be able to collect the complement of the audiovisual rights to which it is entitled. » Without this investment, OL, like the other Ligue 1 clubs, would not receive the additional 20 million euros annually to be distributed.