The series of TV rights for the period 2024-2029 is finally coming to an end. BeIN Sports finally signed its contract with the LFP for the Ligue 1 poster that the channel broadcasts. A state of affairs which, however, shows a significant gap between the initial figure for the sale of rights and the actual amount.
The fight between the Professional Football League and beIN Sports seemed endless. Due to deep disagreements with the second highest authority in French football, the Qatari television channel refused to sign the agreement on the sale of TV rights and paid its monthly payments late. Ultimately, the two entities have finally managed to bury the hatchet – for the moment. As indicated by L’Equipe, the contract between the LFP and beIN Sports has finally been signed. As a bonus, the broadcaster of one Ligue 1 match per week paid his January bill, or around 15 million euros. The figures announced by the French sports daily, however, reveal a large gap between the 500 million euros requested by Vincent Labrune at the time of the call for tenders for the sale of TV rights and the actual amount.
Ligue 1 is not even worth 500 million euros
During the sale of TV rights, the president of the LFP was resigned to selling his product for 500 million euros instead of the billion originally requested for the period 2024-2029. With the figures announced by L’Equipe, we learn that we are ultimately far from half a billion. The League and beIN Sports have agreed for an amount of 98.5 million euros per year for the broadcast of one Ligue 1 match per day, broken down into 78.5 million euros in rights and 20 million euros in sponsorship. Except that DAZN, for its part, pays 375 million euros per season for the broadcast of 8 out of 9 matches until 2029. The two amounts added together give… 473.5 million euros.
For Christophe Bouchet, former mayor of Tours, the LFP has produced a “total fiasco”. “ Thus, in total, the LFP will receive 473.5 million euros for this season. A total fiasco. A perfect industrial accident following a series of errors and blunders of all kinds », Explains the former journalist and sports commentator. Another piece of news that will not do business with French football.
