2023-09-27 12:43:30
The war is open between Vincent Labrune and Maxime Saada. After Canal +’s refusal to participate in the call for tenders for next season, the president of the Professional Football League responded to his counterpart at Canal + in an open letter, relayed by L’Équipeor by the same process used by the boss of the encrypted channel at the beginning of the week.
At that time, through the voice of its chairman of the group’s board of directors, the historic partner of French football first renounced the call for tenders, the conditions of which “completely convinced us that your only objective was to exclude Canal + and favor Amazon,” Saada wrote.
“There is no desire to exclude or favor any actor whatsoever, even less to aim for a failure of this procedure. The speculations, assertions and insinuations contained in your letter are in this regard as serious as they are unfounded,” replied the president of the LFP, in his letter with the aim of dismantling, point by point, all of Canal +’s arguments.
Price, schedule, guarantees… Labrune answers everything
In detail, the first criticism formulated is the use of a fixed price of 530 million euros annually for lot 1 which includes the three most beautiful posters, and 270 million for lot 2 which contains the rest of the meetings. “You mention the ‘unprecedented choice of a fixed price’. If the considerations on the amount are yours, the format is neither illegitimate nor a novelty. On the contrary, it provides the assurance of the most complete transparency of the auction process to all stakeholders,” assured Vincent Labrune.
“You mention the allegedly late nature of the timetable for this procedure: our launch timetable has always been planned for the fall once we have obtained the decree implementing the extension of rights to five seasons, for the benefit of broadcasters. You mention the system for evaluating financial guarantees: it aims to learn the lessons of the Mediapro episode, which we all collectively deplore,” he continues in a letter with a scathing tone.
Not sure that this will ensure tensions between these two historic partners. For the first time since the creation of the encrypted channel in 1984, Canal + will no longer broadcast any Ligue 1 matches from August 2024.
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