Vincent Labrune He was re-elected by a landslide on Tuesday as president of the French Professional Football League (LFP), despite the delicate economic situation facing some clubs, exacerbated by a downward contract for their television rights.
Unexpectedly elected in 2020, the former president of Marseille collected 85% of the votes at the General Assembly of professional clubs held in Paris, extending his mandate until 2028. Cyril Linette, the former executive of Canal + and L’Équipe, is the only rival of Labrune.
A very low settlement
The representatives of the clubs decided to support their president despite the fact that the agreement for television broadcasting for the 2024-2029 season remained at 660 million euros per season, which is less than the 1,000 million expected.
The majority of French clubs’ income (between 50 and 75%) comes from the sale of their television rights. Several entities have recognized that their accounts this year will worsen due to this agreement, which forces them to sell players and reduce salaries, in short affecting their level of competition.
A difficult legacy after the departure of Mediapro
The other four major European championships earn more than the French: England (about 4,000 million per year), Spain (about 2,000), Germany (1,250) and Italy (900 million).
Labrune, 53 years old, however, managed to renew the confidence of the clubs by ensuring that “no one will do it better” than him, considering that he inherited an LFP in the middle of a financial storm after the tumultuous departure of the Spanish group Mediapro as broadcaster, which in 2018 committed to paying 1,153 million euros per season between 2020-2024.
The highlights of his reign
He also highlighted the agreement to provide liquidity to the clubs by transferring 13.04% of the commercial company LFP to the Luxembourg investment fund CVC Capital Partners in exchange for 1.5 billion euros, an agreement investigated by the Senate.
He is also proud of attracting the multinational fast food company McDonalds as the main sponsor of the League in exchange for 30 million per year.
The agreement of Labrune most critics, broadcasting television, think that the British channel DAZN and the Qatari channel BeinSports broadcast eight and one match per day, respectively.
But in a League without big international stars –Messi, Neymar and Mbappé They left -, DAZN proposed the monthly subscription that created discomfort because of its price, 29.99 euros per month. However, due to the avalanche of criticism and pirate connections, the British network launched a promotion this week to subscribe for 19.99 euros.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
