Ligue 1 broadcast rights up in the air

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Bids for French top-flight Ligue 1 from Amazon, DAZN and Discovery have all fallen short, prompting a broadcast rights crisis for the league.

Bids for French top-flight Ligue 1 from Amazon, DAZN and Discovery have all fallen short, prompting a broadcast rights crisis for the league.

The Professional Football League (LFP) haven’t been able to reach an agreement with any bidders as all offers by the three media companies were rejected.

L’Equipe reports that Mediapro’s editorial director for the Téléfoot network, Jean-Michel Roussier, also made an offer on his own companies behalf.

So far, no candidate has been able to match a publicly undisclosed asking price for LFP, not helped by the notable absence of bids from pay-TV broadcasters Canal+ and beIN Sports.

LFP has stated that it received offers from ‘three major international groups Amazon, Discovery and DAZN’ for a contract that includes second-tier Ligue 2 rights.

The LFP will give itself 48 hours to consider the next steps in the process, which would likely be entering private negotiations.

Téléfoot’s temporary arrangement, a network set up by Mediapro to showcase French league coverage, has just expired.

The top two French leagues had previously been left without a domestic broadcast partner when a record deal collapsed with Spanish-based agency Mediapro, worth €814 million (1.3 billion AUD) a year until the end of the 2023/24 season. A contract termination occurred in December as Mediapro were unable to meet payment deadlines – just four months into its first year.

Canal+ is paying €330 million (521 million AUD) a year to sublicence the remaining 20 per cent of games from BeIN Sports. The Vivendi-owned media company wanted to cancel that contract as part of the re-issue of the main broadcast partnership tender.

The LFP rejected that move and Canal+ launched a lawsuit against the league body, wanting to resell the rights rather than being stuck with the inflated prices of 2018. A court hearing is expected to take place on February 19th, as the broadcaster is also filing a complaint with France’s competition regulator about the LFP decision.

Last week it was revealed that French top-flight clubs were about to suffer catastrophic combined losses of over €1.3 billion (2 billion AUD) for this season alone due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a Mediapro deal breakdown.

At this stage, there is complete uncertainly if anyone is able to broadcast Ligue 1’s biggest match on the calendar between Marseille and PSG this weekend.

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Liam Watson is the Co-Founder & Publisher of Soccerscene. He reports widely on football policy, industry matters and technology.

The 2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund to cater for participation boom

Staff Writer
2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund
Image via Pxhere

The Victorian Government’s 2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund is a state-wide investment, open until December 13, 2023.

This fund was created to adapt to the increasing need for infrastructure that is required for regular active sport and recreation.

Utilising three streams, sports clubs, facility managers and community organisations will all benefit from the following grants:

  • Community Facilities – up to $300,000
  • Community Sports Lighting – up to $250,000
  • Planning – up to $40,000

Led by Minister for Community Sport, Ros Spence, the creation of infrastructure will be made possible by planners, architects, engineers, project managers,
builders, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, facility managers and operational staff as part on the construction process. In turn, this has a direct link back to the local economy and offers hundreds of jobs.

For sporting & recreation clubs, sporting associations & leagues, educational institutions, not-for-profit community organisations, businesses and individuals looking to apply for the Local Sports Infrastructure Fund, an important note is that they cannot do so directly. Instead, they will coordinate this with Local Government Authorities and the Alpine Resorts Victoria who will apply on their behalf.

Applications close at 5pm on Wednesday December 13 2023 – with successful candidates of the 2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund announced from April 2024.

For full information and resources, you can view those here.

Football Queensland remain with Kappa for five more seasons until 2028

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Football Queensland & Kappa partnership extension
Image credit: Football Queensland

Football Queensland have announced a five-year partnership extension with iconic international sports brand Kappa as its official apparel partner from 2024.

This relationship between the two parties has been very strong since they first partnered all the way back in 2017 and reinforces the support for football in Queensland that the brand has had.

Kappa has provided quality garments for some of Europe’s biggest clubs including Manchester City, Juventus, AC Milan and the Italian National team.

It’s a brand that was established in 1916 in Turin and eventually in 1978 they rebranded themselves to branch out as a sportwear brand where they focused purely on football-related products and designs.

For Football Queensland, they currently produce and provide quality on and off-field apparel for all Queensland State Representative teams including the state’s futsal representative squads. Kappa also provide on-field apparel for the game’s referees on the FQ website.

They also helped sponsor and start up the Kappa Women’s Super Cup and Kappa Pro Series tournaments that debuted in late 2021 and 2022 respectively for clubs to participate in across the state.

FQ CEO Robert Cavallucci was extremely pleased to announce this partnership extension following Kappa’s amazing support.

“Football Queensland is incredibly excited to announce Kappa as our official apparel partner for the next five years following a competitive tender process which saw us receive 20 expressions of interest and 15 submissions of an extremely high quality,” Cavallucci said via Football Queensland press release.

“In their seven years as a Football Queensland partner, Kappa has provided fantastic support to Football Queensland, our clubs and the wider football community thanks to their quality of apparel, ability to deliver on their promises and the team’s unwavering commitment to customer service.

“We’ve built a wonderful working relationship with the team at Kappa thanks to their willingness to go above and beyond to deliver outcomes for our organisation and our game, and we’re delighted to continue working in partnership with them from next year.”

Kappa Australia Director Ze’ev Bogaty shared the same sentiment for the great relationship the two parties have created.

“Kappa is a strong supporter of football in Queensland and has been proud to invest in the game since the partnership with Football Queensland began in 2017,” Bogaty mentioned in the FQ press release.

“Some highlights of the partnership have included the development of the teal shirt for first year referees, witnessing Queensland state sides dominate on the national stage in Kappa kit, and the launch of the Kappa Women’s Super Cup and Kappa Pro Series tournaments.

“As we embark on another five years as the state’s official apparel partner and continue our close working relationship with Football Queensland, we look forward to contributing even more to the growth and success of football across the state.”

There is a shared goal of improving the grassroots game in Queensland from both parties and the track record of Kappa’s immense investment over the past seven years has shown that this extension will do wonders for Queensland football.

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