A major milestone was taken overnight between Mediapro and the Professional Football League (LFP). Friday, December 11, after two months of conflict over television rights to the French championship, the two parties ended up reaching an agreement which provides for the exit of the Spanish group. Barely four months ago, he launched the new pay-TV channel devoted to football, Téléfoot.
The story is not over, however. To enter into force, this exit agreement must still be validated by the court of Nanterre, Mediapro having in fact placed itself under the protection of a judicial conciliation to face its financial difficulties. A final decision is expected between December 18 and 21, according to our information. In this case, the LFP will be able to recover the broadcasting rights for the French football championship. Telefoot officials have visibly taken the lead by summoning employees to announce the end of the adventure, as revealed The team in the morning.
One hundred million euros on the table
Mediapro, which in 2018 had bought the broadcasting rights to the French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football championship for 820 million euros, requested the abandonment of legal remedies against it from the LFP, but also from four telecom operators, Orange, Bouygues Telecom, Free and SFR, which distribute it through their box. The Catalan audiovisual group founded by Jaume Roures, which already has two outstanding invoices amounting to 320 million euros, will leave a sizeable slate for football clubs. But while he did not offer any money to the LFP at all, its president, Vincent Labrune, according to our information, managed to extract an amount that could reach 100 million euros for the balance of any account.
It is this amount that will allow the LFP to pay the clubs, who were waiting for their next check for December 18. The League had negotiated with the bank, which helped it pay the clubs in October, a line of credit allowing it to hold out until December. But after having taken out a loan guaranteed by the State of 220 million euros, and a first loan of 140 million euros, Vincent Labrune did not want to increase a little more the financial burden of the LFP and of use the line of credit made available by the bank. Once the Nanterre stage has been passed, the LFP will have to find a new broadcaster for the French championship. For the moment, Canal + has closed the hatches, on the official grounds that it was awaiting the resolution of the conflict with Mediapro.
