Jaume Roures, the boss of Mediapro (parent company of the Téléfoot channel), tried to release the fire hose a few weeks after having himself cracked matches by announcing that he wanted to renegotiate part of his contract to broadcast the Championship from France for 780 million euros (M €) per year. The Catalan has announced that his group and the Professional Football League (LFP) have entered a conciliation process, a legal process which can take four months (plus an additional month if necessary).
Roures, who did not pay the 172 million euros for his second installment in early October, sent a reassuring message, often repeating throughout the hour of his press conference, the word “confidence.” “Like bad payers who always have a good excuse to make to explain that everything will work out very quickly and that it was all just a huge misunderstanding.
What is the benefit of conciliation for Mediapro?
It prevents the LFP from terminating the contract with Mediapro for default of payment and from putting the TV rights back on sale. The Spanish group can clearly play for time since the conciliation can last until March. With L1 closing on May 23, there will be insufficient time to launch a new call for tenders for this season. Mediapro will also take advantage of the maneuver not to honor a second draft of 172 million euros: “with the conciliation, we can no longer say that there will be a deadline in December”. In other words, the payment of December 5 will also be frozen for the duration of a hypothetical agreement with the conciliator.
What about the League?
At first glance, the LFP, which refused, a few weeks ago, Mediapro’s proposal to pay 64 million on the deadline of 172 million euros, has no interest in thus tying its hands with the conciliation . But neither does it have to free itself from the Mediapro contract today. Relations with Canal +, the possible repurchase of rights, are also very fresh. “The LFP can ask Mediapro to guarantee the bank loans that it had to take to cover the default,” analyzes sports economist Pierre Rondeau. This is the only plausible explanation to justify the agreement of the LFP. Because otherwise, it would mean that French football is in debt for 344 million euros without guarantee. The least bad solution for the LFP is to trust this procedure. “
Is this the way out of the crisis?
No, just saved time. The public outing of Jaume Roures is similar to a crisis communication. He saw that his public showdown with the LFP especially encouraged potential future Téléfoot subscribers not to commit to a channel with an uncertain future. So the Catalan draws his arguments. Téléfoot is said to have nearly 600,000 subscribers. “The existence of the channel is not in question,” he says. Those who want to see the L1 and the Champions League must go to Téléfoot. “
Does Mediapro want to complete its four-year contract?
In the ideal world set up by Jaume Roures, tensions are quickly forgotten and from the next season, everything will return to order. “This is not the first time that there are problems in football. I am confident: we will find reasonable solutions. “For him, French football is worth 780 million euros … but not this year” It’s a fair price. It is a project for four years and that we are maintaining. We believe in. We knew that it would not be profitable over a year. Mediapro always keeps its commitments. It’s not four guys and four girls in a room. No, we are a strong group. “
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Article original de: www.leparisien.fr
