The announcement of Kylian Mbappé’s departure from PSG at the end of the season absolutely does not help the LFP, which is struggling to sell TV rights to Ligue 1 over the next period (2024-2029) as it wishes.
Already four months after the unsuccessful call for tenders for TV rights for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 for the period 2024-2029, LFP president Vincent Labrune is at an impasse. The former leader of OM is now in a phase of over-the-counter negotiations, meaning he is talking directly with audiovisual companies considering broadcasting the French championships.
While Labrune has been dreaming of a billion euros for years (including the sale of international TV rights), DAZN, nicknamed the Netflix of sport, only offered 500 million euros for all matches. Denied. The British company then agreed to share two posters with another actor (beIN Sports or Amazon Prime, which would then spend 200 million).
Nasser al-Khelaïfi as savior?
But the announced departure of Kylian Mbappé from PSG at the end of the season, Thursday, comes at the worst time for the league… DAZN, which is therefore in a strong position by being the only audiovisual group wishing to buy the best matches of Ligue 1, has a strong argument for not exceeding 500 million. Only beIN Sports can limit the damage, Nasser al-Khelaïfi (the president of beIN Media Group) being close to Labrune.
As indicated The Team this Tuesday, the LFP was already worried last summer about the possible departure of Kylian Mbappé, who had been excluded from Luis Enrique’s group. The departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar had been anticipated, but not that of the prodigy from Bondy, now captain of the France team. Without Mbappé, the “League of Talents” could find itself without any stars.
