While it seemed totally disinterested in the rights of Ligue 1, the encrypted channel would not be out of the game according to Jean-Pierre Caillot, the president of Stade de Reims, administrator of the LFP.
The Football League suffered a first failure. As expected, no actor has in fact offered the reserve price set by the LFP to acquire the rights to the championship for the period 2024-29. This amounted to some 800 million euros: 530 million euros for lot 1 containing the two most beautiful posters and the number 4 choice of each day and 270 million euros for lot 2 which includes the other six matches.
Only two potential broadcasters have made a formal offer: DAZN and beIN Sports. However, according to Jean-Pierre Caillot, president of Stade de Reims, administrator of the LFP, no less than six players are interested in the rights of Ligue 1, ready to reveal their game while the leaders of the League must now negotiate over-the-counter, that is to say directly, with interested candidates. And Canal+, historic broadcaster of Ligue 1, would still be in the running.
“They can come back since it’s over the counter. Yes, they are (in the dance). There are six potential players who have said for months that they are strongly interested in the product,” he confided to the microphone of RMC, displaying his optimism regarding the outcome of the discussions: “We are not stupider than the Spaniards, the Germans or the Italians and look at their level. There are always thinkers in this country, they bring you experts who everyone knows have not been experts on anything at all for a long time and who with certainty, throw out sums under cover of anonymity. I repeat, we will see what happens in the end and I am not more worried than that. »
The interest of Canal+ is surprising. Its president, Maxime Saada, had in fact sent a vitriolic letter explaining his decision not to participate in the call for tenders, it being biased. “The conditions are not currently met for the Canal + group to submit an offer on October 16 and 17he announced, adding that the conditions of the call for tenders “have convinced us that your only objective was to exclude Canal + and favor Amazon. » The director of Canal had accused the LFP of targeting “failure” to “ free from the legal constraint of a call for applications in order to be able to once again negotiate directly and under perfectly opaque conditions the allocation of rights.
