France' Ligue 1 is the least attractive and successful of the top five league competitions in Europe. Apart from anything else, its domination by Paris Saint-Germain does not make it a very interesting competition.
Now Ligue 1 has made a mess of its television deal. Its ambition was to be a price maker and it has ended up a price taker.
Mediapro simply stopped paying instalments on its €780m annual television rights deal. Not enough people want to sign up to its new Téléfoot channel. It was able to return the rights in return for paying what is reported to be just €100m.
Canal Plus is most likely to take the rights over, but can name its price. It will not meet Ligue 1's ambition of getting a deal closer to the more lucrative ones in England and Spain.
This will leave a huge hole in the finances of some French clubs with those with high debts such as Lille in a vulnerable position. Rennes expects to post a €40m loss in 2020.
Bordeaux has reported big losses of €67m: https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2021/bordeaux-make-e67m-in-losses/. Its owner, US investment company King Street Capital, reportedly wants to sell the club.
The French league could try to commercialise its television rights and sell them off through a separate company as Serie A has done. That deal attracted plenty of interest, but would the same apply in the case of France?
Writing in the Financial Times, Leila Abboud argues that 'greed' led Ligue 1 to choose the unproven Mediapro.
This is a word we hear a lot of in relation to football, but isn't any business allowed to try and improve its returns, particularly one made up of member businesses?
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