The catastrophic sale of TV rights this summer for the benefit of DAZN and beIN Sports – with a total of 500 million annual euros assured when the billion was initially targeted by the Professional Football League and its president Vincent Labrune – is not without consequence for Ligue 1 clubs.
If the entities that have been able to diversify their sources of income – through sponsorship and marketing in particular – are getting by willy-nilly, many of the smaller teams are clearly suffering, and now, from the drop in resources recorded this season . This is particularly the case for SCO.
In Angers, players’ salaries for the month of January (footballers are paid at the start of the month, editor’s note) were cut by 60%. “ This is part of the collateral damage of TV rights. We paid all the administrative staff, the training center, and we sorted out everything medical, stewards », Explains to L’Equipe President Saïd Chabane, who hopes to be able to make up the remainder owed by the end of the month.
Le Havre and Montpellier also in difficulty
“ We are never sure of anything, we do everything not to end up there », breathes Jean-Michel Roussier, the boss of the HAC, thus relayed by RMC. The Norman club is also facing major financial difficulties, with a deficit of 10 million euros posted last November and a ban on recruitment, accompanied by a control of the payroll, recently pronounced by the DNCG.
Last August, when the TV rights agreement for the L1 had just fallen, Laurent Nicollin, the president of the MHSC, did not hide his disappointment either but surprisingly came to the defense of the League: “ We thought we had a certain thing, we didn’t get it. Afterwards of course, I’m honest, it doesn’t make me happy to go from 20 million TV rights to 7. If everything had been poorly done and poorly analyzed, I would tell you, but that’s not the case. I’m not in the League, but it wasn’t that easy, there were difficulties negotiating things. We have what we have and now it’s up to us to make do with it. Lowering club lifestyles won’t do any harm… »
