LIGUE 1
Ligue 1′s value set to plummet without Kylian Mbappé
The French league stand to lose more than 140 million euros in television rights for the next five years as they struggle to sell global rights packages.
The imminent departure of Kylian Mbappé from PSG is not only a headache for the Parisian club, but also Ligue 1, a championship that has been devalued over the years as the side from the French capital dominates the competition winning nine titles in the past eleven seasons.
A figure of 140 million euros has been cited as the amount Ligue 1 could miss out on when Mbappe departs as the LFP are in the midst of negotiations rights for the league for the next five years (2024-2029) and not being able to count on the French striker weakens their hand in any negotiation process.
Despite conveying a message suggesting that Mbappé's exit from PSG “will not have a gigantic impact”, the reality is that the price of the television rights could be reduced by up to 20% of the initial amount with which the LFP negotiated in the embryonic phase of the talks. Vincent Labrune, president of the organization, wanted to reach 1,000 million between national and international rights, an amount that not a single teleoperator came close to in the month of October, the date on which the tender was initially launched.
French football seems set to take another hit on its reputation as an attractive global product after the likes of big-name stars such as Messi, Neymar, Verratti and Ramos all left Ligue 1 last season. Without Mbappé and with the title being an almost foregone conclusion with PSG’s deep pockets assemble a squad of superstars that no other club can afford, domestic French television and international broadcasters have shown less enthusiasm for the league in an already cluttered market with emerging leagues such as MLS and the Saudi Pro League generating higher levels of interest.
As things stand, the LFP has failed in negotiations with all would-be rights holders after their opening figure of 1 billion was considered excessive by all parties involved. On top of the broadcast rights issue, investment fund CVC recently paid 1.5 billion euros in 2022 to have a percentage of Ligue 1′s ordinary income and the ‘global alternative investment manager’ will earn more than 100 million euros next season which will see the profit margin of French clubs significantly reduced.
Canal+, the long term broadcaster of Ligue 1, argued, in October of last year as they opted out of the bidding process for Ligue 1 rights claiming that their customers “preferred rugby to football”. BeIN Sports appear to be one of the potential candidates with Nasser Al Khelaïfi overseeing the Qatari based broadcaster and have been expected to make an offer of around 600 million, although without Mbappé the amount could decrease.
French football is on the ropes after the confirmation that Ligue 1′s biggest asset will be leaving the competition for the 2024-25 campaign.