The news is not always very good on the Ligue 1 TV rights front, but here is at least a delightful perspective. The profile of the future director general of LFP Media is unanimous.
These are Nicolas de Tavernost. The former boss of M6 and the Girondins de Bordeaux has an ideal profile for the position. Experienced leader, he has a strong knowledge of the media, and he was on the other side of the barrier by being for a few years at the head of a Ligue 1 club. But it is far from being his only asset.
Nicolas de Tavernost is also very close to Maxime Saada, the boss of Canal+, historic broadcaster of French football. This validates his appointment at the head of LFP Media. “” He has ego, but greater to prove, says Saada in the team. It is intelligent enough to gauge the situation and determine if it has a chance of success or not. He needs to be sovereign and this is the necessary condition to carry out this file. »»
Return channel, but …
For Nicolas de Tavernost, it is already a small victory before even his official notification. The announcement of his arrival at the head of LFP Media warms relations with Canal+, which has been clearly in conflict with Vincent Labrune for a few years. And while Vincent Bolloré's channel had turned from back to Ligue 1, she now says she is ready to return to the negotiation table.
“Put it around the table as an interlocutor is a good way to get me back on the subject of Ligue 1, thus confirms Maxime Saada. We can dialogue with him and I will. But I do not forget the damage that was caused to us during the previous contract. »»
Saada's last sentence, however, invites caution, and suggests that the TV rights soap opera is far from resolved. Especially since the words of the boss of Canal+ for Nicolas de Tavernost are quite worrying: “I said to him: 'I think the descent is not finished for Ligue 1 and make sure, if you take the job, not to be blamed for the rest of the descent'”.
