France's Ligue 2 has "requested an increase in its share of TV rights" with respect to Ligue 1 in exchange for giving the top division control over the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which oversees professional soccer in France. Ligue 2 in a working document denounced the "incessant guerrilla warfare between the two divisions" since May '18, when the LFP agreed to a €1.23B ($1.32B) per year TV deal with Mediapro from '20-24, which will see annual TV revenues increase from €748.5M ($807M) under the LFP's current deal. Ligue 2 will only see an €11M ($12M) increase in '20-21 due to a contractual "max ceiling" limiting it to €110M ($119M) per year. Under the proposal, Ligue 2 wants to earn €162M ($175M) per year. In return, the second tier would "give Ligue 1 the keys" to the LFP, allowing it full control to "manage and direct" the organization (L'EQUIPE, 5/14).
Meanwhile, Ligue 1's most prominent clubs are "considering reexamining the [intra-Ligue 1] TV rights distributions" from the Mediapro deal, despite agreeing in March to equally distribute revenue among all Ligue 1 clubs. This could bring the "return of a war between 'big' and 'small' clubs" in France (L'EQUIPE, 5/14).
Lawyers representing Ligue 1 club Bordeaux sent a latter "ordering" shirt sponsor Bistro Regent to "pay what it owes" to the club after the restaurant chain last month suspended its contract amid the coronavirus pandemic. Bistro Regent Founder Marc Vanhove said that he will meet with club officials next week to "discuss the future of their partnership" (L'EQUIPE, 5/14).
