France Football Rights Sale Is a Financial Warning
There are limits to television viewers’ appetite for the beautiful game.
France’s Kylian Mbappe will now be wearing Real Madrid colors.
Photographer: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFPA British comedy sketch from the 2000s lampoons the frantic promotion of live soccer broadcasting, with a presenter proclaiming “24-hour yearlong endless” matches as he entreats viewers to “Watch the football! Watch it! Watch it!” France, rather than England, has just provided the stiffest test of the notion that audience demand is insatiable enough to justify any level of investment.
Ligue 1 came through its trial, just. At the 11th hour, a month before the start of the season and with financial chaos beckoning, France’s top-flight found a buyer for its broadcast rights. Ligue de Football Professional, or LFP, the governing body, agreed to back a five-year deal with Len Blavatnik’s streaming company Dazn Group Ltd. and the Qatari sports broadcaster beIN. The agreement will bring in about €500 million ($546 million) a year, according to French radio station RMC; a sale of the global rights may add a further €150 million. That’s way below the combined €1 billion the league originally targeted. It’s nevertheless a lifeline for the numerous clubs that depend heavily on broadcast revenue.