The 2021 French Football Cup Covid-19 version, played behind closed doors in an unprecedented format, does not suit France Télévisions and Eurosport. The two broadcasters have demanded a 30% discount on the 22 million euros annually they pay, but the French Football Federation (FFF), organizer of the competition, does not want to hear about it for now, according to Agence France-Presse (AF °, which quotes a source close to the discussions.
According to The team, the two televisions wrote ” last week “ to the FFF to claim a discount of around 6.6 million euros, based according to the daily on the “Format change” and the “Holding matches behind closed doors”.
The FFF changed the course of the competition in December 2020 due to the cessation of competitions and collective training for amateur clubs since the end of October: the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs thus compete until the round of 32, stage from which they will be joined by the amateur clubs who will have separated from their side.
Discussions have since taken place between the president of the FFF Noël Le Graët and the two channels holding the rights for the period 2018-2022, but the file has been put on standby, according to the source joined by AFP. Asked, France Télévisions and the FFF did not wish to comment.
For its part, Eurosport has indicated that it is “In permanent contact with all sports organizers in France and internationally”, especially for “Find solutions in order to bring the best possible visibility to the competitions in the interest of the fans”. But the chain claims to have “No comments to make on internal discussions that could take place between partners”.
For the 2018/19 season, the FFF received 23.9 million euros in revenue for the broadcast of the Coupe de France. This sum also includes the participation of the BeIN Sports channel, for a little less than 2 million euros.
