With the value of Ligue 1’s TV rights in the French market set to rise to €1.15B ($1.32B) starting in ’20, compared to €762M ($874.5M) now, the clubs believe the value of the rights outside of France is “not keeping up,” according to 20 MINUTES. Several club presidents are “putting pressure” on the French Professional Football League (LFP) and foreign rights holder beIN Sports to renegotiate the current contract. Ligue 1 clubs currently share €70M ($80.3M) per year from the sale of foreign TV rights, which “pales in comparison” to the Premier League (€1.3B/$1.5B), La Liga (€650M/$746M), Serie A (€370M/$425M) and the Bundesliga (€250M/$287M). The “fault lies in a long contract” signed between the league and the Qatari group in ’11 and extended through ’24. Monaco VP Vadim Vasyliev said, “It was an error for the league to sign that contract. We must modify it in the interest of French football” (20 MINUTES, 10/23). L’ÉQUIPE’s Étienne Moatti reported the LFP conducted a study on the value beIN Sports puts on its foreign rights. BeIN Sports currently values the rights in the Middle East, North Africa and the U.S. at €25M ($29M). The LFP found that the value of those rights should be around €64M ($73M). That is a €39M ($44M) difference, amounting to €234M ($268M) over the last six seasons remaining on the contract (L’ÉQUIPE, 10/23).
