FootBiz newsletter #78: Ligue 1 becomes first major league to launch its own broadcaster

What is happening in France with the complete mismanagement and subsequent meltdown of the broadcast rights process is a warning for all other football leagues.

And now it has been confirmed that those other leagues will get to sit on the sidelines and watch to see if a league can launch their own broadcasting product and succeed.

If Ligue 1’s own TV and streaming offering does succeed, they will have flipped themselves from disasterclass to pioneers and can chart a path back to relevance and solvency.

If it doesn’t? Oh, boy.

With the league choosing to go ahead and launch their own broadcaster, the battle to provide the LFP with the technical and logistical support that they need has already begun.

You may remember that there was talk of DAZN exiting without paying a penny, but that possibility has disappeared as they calculated the value of a future arrangement providing technical services to the league.

Per L’Equipe, DAZN has agreed to pay the remaining €140m for this season in two instalments as normal before paying a €100m severance payment to exit the contract. Originally the deal was for €375m per year and set to run until 2029.

DAZN had threatened to hold back the remaining payments but the friendly volte-face is principally because they see the longer-term possibilities enabled by the Ligue 1 project. Not only could they get in on the ground floor of an exciting streaming venture that they are already prepared for, but if it goes well then other leagues will also be considering their options and DAZN would be a natural partner.

"Coming to France, losing money and stopping after a year doesn't make much sense," the broadcaster told L’Equipe.

"We are convinced that we can bring significant added value to the League through this channel project. Leaving the clubs in the dark with a channel project that hasn't yet begun to materialize seems extremely risky to us three and a half months before the start of the Championship. We are ready to invest around a hundred million euros for this channel."

But they aren’t the only people who want in…

"The League may have other options, though we believe the right decision would be to go ahead with this channel project with DAZN.”

At the LFP, the big change has been the appointment of a new CEO of their commercial arm, LFP Media, in the shape of Nicolas de Tavernost. He can’t do a worse job than those who came before him, but setting up a league streaming platform without precedent isn’t the easiest start to a new job.

That difficulty is compounded by the general unease around Ligue 1’s finances.

Clubs in French football’s top two divisions have been advised not to include broadcast revenues in their budgets for 2025/26. For those who weren’t playing in UEFA competitions, that is around 50% of their revenue that is magically disappearing from projections, with a league-wide average (excluding PSG) of just under 40%.

Today is May 1. In just three months, Ligue 1 needs to have its own streaming service (with linear TV capabilities) up and running with the ability to accept subscribers. They then need to be able to actually attract subscribers to the platform, which is — fundamentally — why DAZN pulled out of the deal just months after it began.

Among the range of outcomes there is a run-out where Ligue 1 is sitting pretty as a strong, self-sustaining league and broadcasting pioneer in a couple of years. There are just a lot more outcomes where they struggle and clubs go bust.

“Maybe when they own their own broadcast rights they’ll be the first league to take piracy seriously” quipped one broadcast executive of LFP’s upcoming responsibilities and challenges.

One thing is for sure. With Ligue 1 clubs posting operating losses of €3bn+ over the past three seasons, they desperately need stability and predictability of revenue.

To get that, the league needs to thread the needle in an unprecedented way.

Table of Contents

• Ancelotti to Brazil hits a speed bump

• Man City demand documents from PL rivals

• AFC Champions League reaches its finale

• Marinakis puts Forest into blind trust

• Chelsea finally find shirt sponsor

• Executive transfer window opens

• Pogba prefers Europe to DC option

Ancelotti to Brazil hits a speed bump

Carlo Ancelotti wants to take the Brazil job, but the deal is in jeopardy after Real Madrid failed to find agreement with the Brazilian federation (CBF) on compensation for releasing the coach from his contract and the timeline of doing so - with the Club World Cup complicating matters.

Ancelotti is also reportedly not willing to move to Brazil full-time. While that has worked well for Mallorca-based Lionel Scaloni, who won the World Cup with Argentina, the CBF are not willing to countenance such an arrangement for their first-ever foreign coach and it has contributed to the sudden impasse in negotiations.

A report in Madrid-based newspaper AS, published before the impasse was known, detailed that Ancelotti would be leaving Madrid before the Club World Cup in order to take charge of Brazil in the international window in early June. The CBF had also wanted the Italian’s input into selecting that squad, which must be submitted by May 18.

Brazil would pay Ancelotti €11m per year, though the initial term is for just 13 months until the end of the 2026 World Cup. There is an option to extend through the 2030 World Cup.

While late on Tuesday night there were strong reports in numerous Spanish outlets that the entire deal was dead, on Wednesday there was a little more hope that things would pan out.

An interesting scenario if it falls apart would be whether both sides — Ancelotti and Madrid — want to continue together considering how far down the road to divorce both have come. Maybe it is just time for Xabi Alonso, with Ancelotti also sitting on an offer from Saudi Arabia which would pay him 4-5x what he makes in Spain.

Either way we’ll be following…

Man City demand documents from PL rivals

Manchester City have requested that Arsenal, Everton and Brighton give them access to details of their shareholder loans in a further escalation of their legal battle with the Premier League.

The Times and Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that City’s lawyers have asked the Premier League to invoke one of their own rules on disclosure of confidential financial information from their fellow top-flight clubs.

City want to use details of their rivals’ loans in their ongoing legal challenge to the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction [APT] rules. The club say that new APT regulations continue to discriminate against them, and that shareholder loans give others an unfair advantage as they are not subject to the same scrutiny as other commercial deals. 

All Premier League clubs have been informed of the request and are waiting to discover if they will have to comply.

AFC Champions League reaches its finale

The most expensively assembled team in Asian football history has fallen at the semi-final stage of the AFC Champions League, continuing their unthinkable drought in the competition.

Al-Nassr, whose star-studded team is headlined by their €200m a year captain Cristiano Ronaldo, fell to Kawasaki Frontale to ensure there will be a Japanese team in the final for the third year in a row.

The other semi-final was between two teams majority owned (75%) by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal, with Al-Ahli making the final on the back of goals from former Premier League strikers Roberto Firmino and Ivan Toney.

Saturday’s final, which like the quarter- and semi-finals will be held in Jeddah, will therefore see a first-time winner with Kawasaki and Al-Ahli both having lost finals before but never won Asian football’s biggest prize.

For Al-Nassr, whose €350m per year wage bill ranks top 10 in the world, it’s going to be a trophyless season.

Marinakis puts Forest into blind trust

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has placed his shares in the club in a blind trust to ensure compliance with UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership next season.

Marinakis also owns Greek club Olympiacos, who have already qualified for the Champions League, with Forest hoping to join them by finishing in the top five of the Premier League. Nuno Espirito Santos’ side are currently sixth, but can move up to third in the table with four games remaining if they beat Brentford at the City Ground this evening.

UEFA’s regulations on multi-club ownership state no individual or company is allowed to control two clubs that are competing in the same competition. Without the use of a blind trust, if both Olympiacos and Forest qualify for the Champions League, one of them would have had to drop down into the Europa League. Should Forest qualify for the Europa League there would be no need for a blind trust arrangement and the ownership could return to its previous format.

Marinakis isn’t the first do this. City Football Group put their shares in Spanish club Girona into a blind trust after they joined Manchester City in this season’s Champions League, while Manchester United’s co-owner INEOS suspended their interest in Nice this season after both clubs qualified for the Europa League and there was a similar arrangement for Toulouse and AC Milan when RedBird Capital had both clubs in UEFA competitions.

While it is unusual for a Premier League side to be regarded as the junior outfit in a multi-club operation, Marinakis has owned Olympiacos for 15 years compared to the eight years he has spent at Forest, so his decision is understandable. As serial Champions League qualifiers Olympiacos also have more recent European pedigree, and won the Europa Conference League last season.

Chelsea finally find shirt sponsor

After more than 12 months of discussions and 86 matches played with unbranded shirts this season across their senior men’s and women’s teams, Chelsea have finally secured a sponsorship deal, although it promises to be only the briefest of unions.

As part of a deal to become the club’s official property development partner, Dubai-based luxury realtor DAMAC properties will have their branding on Chelsea’s shirts for the rest of the season, beginning this evening, when Enzo Maresca’s side face Djurgarden in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final.

The deal will see DAMAC, founded by the Emirati businessman Hussain Sajwani, build “football-themed real estate” in Dubai including so-called “Chelsea Residences” on the beachfront. Details of these new luxury dwellings remain sketchy, but it will be disappointing if they do not come equipped with a Jose Mourinho laundry basket, and access to the Andriy Shevchenko golf course and Ashley Cole shooting range.

The shirt sponsorship will be short-lived, however, with Chelsea seeking alternative partners for the Club World Cup and next season. After having no sponsor for most of the season, they could theoretically have three different ones in as many months.

It has cost them tens of millions in uncaptured revenue.

Executive transfer window opens

While the transfer window has yet to open, there has been some significant movement at executive level.

The biggest news – and certainly the most lucrative move – has come at Aston Villa with the club’s president of business operations, Chris Heck, announcing his departure yesterday. The Daily Telegraph reported soon afterwards that Heck is leaving Villa Park to take up the same role at Saudi Arabian-backed rebel tour LIV Golf, which is unlikely to involve a pay-cut. LIV recently hired Scott O’Neil as its new CEO, and the former HBSE and Merlin executive is shaping a new leadership team that now includes former Elevate SVP Lara Toscani Weems as well as Heck.

Heck spent two years as de facto chief executive at Villa, achieving a significant success in securing planning permission to expand the ground to over 50,000 while Unai Emery’s side have thrived on the pitch, but he was also a controversial and abrasive figure. Villa experienced a high turnover of senior staff under his leadership, while he also faced a backlash from fans over high ticket prices charged after qualifying for the Champions League for the first time.

Elsewhere, Everton’s head of recruitment Dan Purdy is leaving the club, as reported by The Athletic. Purdy was offered a new role as head of player identification in a revamped recruitment structure put together by incoming new chief executive Angus Kinnear, who is joining from Leeds next week, but declined to take up the opportunity. City AM also reported this week that Everton’s owners, The Friedkin Group are planning to outsource some of their recruitment work by buying a data company, whose services would also be used by AS Roma. 

Leeds confirmed this week that they will promote from within to replace Kinnear and sporting director Nicky Hammond, who will follow him to Everton.

American Robbie Evans has been promoted to Managing Director after two years as Chief Strategy Officer having joined the club from the San Francisco 49ers, while Adam Underwood will step up Sporting Director from his current role as Head of Football Operations.

Evans’ promotion in particular has raised eyebrows at other clubs given his limited football experience, with Leeds preparing for a huge summer following promotion to the Premier League.

Pogba prefers Europe to DC option

Paul Pogba has signed Discovery rights with MLS franchise DC United, although the French midfield player would prefer to sign for a European club following his return from a drugs ban.

The Washington Post reported news of DC United’s coup, which gives them exclusive rights within the MLS to negotiate with Pogba, but does not apply to any other competition. Under the terms of the agreement if another MLS club wants to negotiate with Pogba, they would first have to purchase this right from DC United.

Pogba was initially hit with a four-year ban from football last February after a drugs test found increased levels of testosterone in his system.

In October his suspension was reduced to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following an appeal, leaving him free to sign for a new club next season.