Mediapro wishes to renegotiate the amount of the broadcasting rights of the French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 because of the coronavirus pandemic, reveals its main leader, Jaume Roures, in an interview published Thursday, October 8 in The team.
“We want to discuss the contract again this season. She is very affected by Covid-19, everyone knows it because everyone is suffering. We are not calling into question the project as such. But bars and restaurants are closed, advertising has collapsed… These are things that everyone knows ”, explains Mr. Roures.
Mediapro, which launched the dedicated Téléfoot channel this season, asked the Professional Football League (LFP) for a delay to settle its October 6 deadline (172 million euros): ” It is more complicated than that. We asked to talk about the contract this season because of the Covid-19. It is obvious that the Covid affects many aspects of the exploitation of rights. We want to talk about that “, insists Mr. Roures.
The LFP said Thursday that it refused to grant its major broadcaster Mediapro a payment deadline for the October deadline for television rights to the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 championships. “The priority of the LFP is now to be able to ensure payment to clubs by the deadline of October 17, 2020”, explained the professional league in a statement.
The fees set for the 2020-2021 season amount to 780 million euros for Ligue 1 and 34 million euros for Ligue 2, confirms Mr. Roures, stressing that “The League itself asked the government to compensate for its losses because of the Covid. We are in this dynamic. We do not have a concrete amount. We want to renegotiate the price. We asked to establish a timetable to complete this negotiation which will not be public ”.
“The contract was established under conditions that have nothing to do with the current situation”, adds Mr. Roures. ” It’s obvious. It is necessary to talk about it. Then we’ll see how it ends. We are not calling into question the contract, but we are calling into question the current situation (…) We have an agreement for four seasons. There are several ways to fix the current situation ”.
Asked about the October 6 deadline, which Mediapro has not paid, and the October 17 date, on which the LFP must distribute the sums paid by the broadcasters to the clubs, Mr. Roures is not very encouraging: “It is obvious that on October 17, we will not have reached an agreement. But we can find formulas that help the clubs’ economic situation ”.
