"World" editorial. She ended up folding, quite grudgingly. The Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, had not left much room for maneuver to the Professional Football League (LFP) by affirming, Tuesday, April 28, when he presented his deconfinement plan, that the 2019-2020 season of professional sports could not resume. The decision of the LFP’s board of directors, Thursday, April 30, to permanently close the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 seasons, suspended since March 8 due to health risks, was inevitable.
The French will therefore have to do without football championship matches at least until the start of next season, August 22. This is one of the many sacrifices imposed by this unprecedented crisis. Around the world, major cultural and sporting events are canceled or postponed, starting with the Tokyo Olympic Games, rescheduled in 2021. The Tour de France has been delayed by two months.
Football professionals, however, thought they could be an exception and insisted on resuming competition, even behind closed doors. Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu had to clarify that the sports industry was not "Not a priority in our society" in the deconfinement phase.
Salary concessions
If professional football officials were so keen to bring the season to a close – like their European colleagues, it is true, who, except in the Netherlands, still hope – it is because hundreds of millions of euros, in television broadcasting rights, are at stake. This money weighs heavily on club budgets (on average 36% in Ligue 1).
The government has committed to supporting struggling clubs. But, while the entire cultural industry is threatened, that cafes and restaurants do not even know when they can reopen, that tens of thousands of tourism workers will have to tighten their belts, perhaps the moment has it come for professional football leaders to pause and reconsider their business model.
This is a sector that has been brewing millions for twenty years and has not bothered to secure its rear in anticipation of bad days. These are clubs where, according to a calculation made by The team, the average salary is 94,000 euros gross per month. This is a sport, admittedly extremely popular, which the constant rise in television rights, soaring prices for player transfers and commissions paid to agents have transformed into a financial empire. And here are clubs, including Ligue 1, like PSG, OM, Monaco, Reims, Nice or Brest, who have asked to benefit from the partial unemployment scheme, that is to say help from the state, during the pandemic.
Around the world, the violence of the coronavirus crisis is pushing officials to question their way of working. Why should professional football escape this introspection? The enormity of the sums at stake has tarnished its image. He could start by obtaining salary concessions from the players, which would reduce club expenses in this period without revenue. This is what some European clubs have already done, such as Juventus Turin, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
We would very much have liked to hear the great players of French clubs, they who have so much echo, take their share of solidarity in this crisis. An opportunity to bridge the gap between professional football and the general public has, unfortunately, been missed.
