Falling revenues… and rising expenses. This is the other problem facing the LFP at the moment, which is also living beyond its means. According to L’Equipe, several expenditure items are clearly annoying the Ligue 1 presidents, who would like the governing body to tighten its belt as well.
In detail, there is the recent purchase of a new headquarters, acquired for 120 million euros (while the same building had been sold for 73.1 million euros three and a half years previously, recalls L’Equipe), with an amount of the operation reaching 131 million euros including the works.
In addition, the LFP has seen its workforce grow, reaching 160 employees (compared to only 90 two years ago), with sometimes very generous salaries granted to certain cardes. The remuneration of the president Vincent Labrune has also climbed: from 420,000 euros per year in 2020 when he arrived, the salary of the former OM manager has increased to 1.2 million per year, with a bonus of 3 million euros received following the signing of the contract with CVC.
“This lifestyle is no longer possible”
In a context of crisis, all this is bound to cause discussion.
“This lifestyle is no longer possible, of course, it was calibrated on television rights worth a billion eurosrecognizes Laurent Nicollin, the president of Montpellier. Club managers are working with the League on this issue, to reduce costs, at the level of the LFP and LFP Media. Between the structural costs, the people who will not be kept, savings will be made, and if our club can recover one or two million in the process…
Nicollin is critical on this point, but he remains a loyal supporter of Labrune. “I appreciate it and I will appreciate it all my life, assures the boss of MHSC in L’Equipe. We were very lucky to have him when Mediapro was there, he managed well with the State during the post-Covid difficulties, he managed CVC masterfully, we were very happy to have this windfall. Without him, we were heading for disaster. (…) He did more good things than bad.
