New Ligue 1 TV Rights Deal Is Down $77M, Still Worth Nearly $770M

The Ligue de Football Professionel announced a "€61M ($77M) decrease" for the new TV rights deal for the Ligue 1, according to L'EQUIPE. The rights sold by the LFP for the Ligue 1 from '08-12 were worth €668M ($845.7M), but the new deal for '12-16 is down to €607 ($768.5M) (L'EQUIPE, 6/27). The AFP reported that LFP President Frederic Thiriez is "satisfied to have avoided a catastrophe." Thiriez said, "the result is not satisfying but we avoided a catastrophe despite the almost complete withdrawal of Orange and the partial withdrawal of Canal +." He added: "This decline is partially compensated by an increase in int'l rights fees, from €17M ($21.5M) [per year] to €31.5M ($39.9M) and the rights covering Ligue 2 increasing from €13M ($16.5M) to €18M ($22.8M). So the total decline in rights is €40M ($50.6M), or about 6%." Be In Sport, "the new broadcaster from Qatar, which acquired the majority of the TV rights for the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2," will pay the LFP €173M ($219M) annually (AFP, 6/28).