Soccer-Ligue 1 seeks long-term TV deal as 2027-32 rights tender opens

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - Nantes v Lille - The Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau, Nantes, France - February 7, 2021 General view of French TV channel 'Canal Plus' logo on a microphone before the match REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo

PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The French ⁠Professional Football League (LFP) launched a tender on Tuesday for Ligue 1's domestic audiovisual rights from 2027 to 2032, ⁠with a December 3 deadline to submit bids as the league seeks to draw a line under years ‌of broadcast uncertainty.

The process comes after a prolonged television rights saga that has squeezed club revenues and follows a series of rights negotiations that fell short of expectations.

Under the tender, the LFP is offering a single package covering all nine matches from each Ligue 1 round, taking advantage of legislation ​that allows the league to market the rights as one lot.

Bidders can either ⁠acquire the full broadcast rights or secure exclusive ⁠distribution of the league-owned Ligue 1+ channel.

Ligue 1+ was launched by the league in 2025 after its deal with DAZN ⁠ended ‌and carries every Ligue 1 match this season. beIN Sports had previously retained one match per round.

"If we decided to test the market, it's because we believe the environment is more favourable than in 2023," LFP president Vincent ⁠Labrune told reporters.

"We will try to find the best combination of value, ​exposure and accessibility for our product. We're ‌approaching the process with relative serenity."

The tender had initially been planned for the 2029-2034 cycle, but the league ⁠brought the timetable forward ​after sounding out potential bidders.

"We realised that the interest was mainly in 2027-2032," LFP media chief executive Olivier Bramly told Reuters.

"The platforms told us that this was the right time to do it for 2027-2032."

AMBITIOUS RESERVE PRICE

Bidders must submit three components as part of their offers: ⁠a financial proposal, a qualitative proposal and a financial guarantee mechanism.

For the ​process to succeed, the financial bid must exceed a confidential reserve price, with the financial and qualitative elements assessed together.

"The reserve price needs to be significantly above Ligue 1+'s projected trajectory. It's ambitious, but not unrealistic," Bramly said, adding that the figure was ⁠still being finalised.

"We have this comfort and this luxury because we have Ligue 1+, there's no emergency."

Should the tender fail, the league said it would continue developing its in-house platform.

The LFP has held discussions with about 10 potential partners and is particularly keen to attract streaming companies, with Bramly saying digital platforms were showing strong interest in Ligue 1 rights.

Recent deals have ​underlined the growing appetite of streaming services for live sports, with Disney+ acquiring Spanish league ⁠rights in France and Netflix securing rights to the 2030 World Cup in Spain and Andorra.

"American platforms are reaching a bit ​more maturity in their thinking about sports content than they were two or ‌three years ago, and that's why we see the timing of ​this call for bids as much better," Labrune said.

The outcome of the tender, which Bramly described as "very important for French football", is due to be announced on December 4.

(Reporting by Vincent Daheron, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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文件照片：足球 - Ligue 1 - 南特 v 里尔 - The Stade de la Beaujoire - 法国南特 Louis Fonteneau - 2021 年 2 月 7 日 比赛前麦克风上法国电视频道“Canal Plus”标志的全景 REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/文件照片

巴黎，11 月 3 日（路透社）——法国职业足球联赛 (LFP) 周二启动了法甲联赛 2027 年至 2032 年国内视听版权的招标，投标截止日期为 12 月 3 日，该联赛希望借此结束多年来转播的不确定性。

此前，电视转播权之争旷日持久，挤压了俱乐部的收入，而在此之前，一系列的转播权谈判也未能达到预期效果。

根据招标，法国职业足球联赛 (LFP) 提供了一个涵盖法甲联赛每轮全部九场比赛的单一套餐，利用了允许联赛将版权作为一个整体进行销售的法律。

竞标者可以选择获得全部转播权，或者获得联赛拥有的 Ligue 1+ 频道的独家发行权。

法甲联赛在与DAZN的合作结束后，于2025年推出了Ligue 1+，本赛季将播出所有法甲比赛。此前，beIN Sports每轮只保留一场比赛的转播权。

“如果我们决定试探市场，那是因为我们相信现在的环境比 2023 年更有利，”法国职业足球联赛主席文森特·拉布鲁内告诉记者。

“我们将努力为我们的产品找到价值、曝光度和可及性之间的最佳组合。我们以相对平静的心态来对待这个过程。”

该招标最初计划在 2029-2034 年周期进行，但在与潜在竞标者接触后，联盟将时间表提前了。

“我们意识到，人们的兴趣主要集中在 2027-2032 年，”法国职业足球联赛 (LFP) 媒体首席执行官奥利维尔·布拉姆利告诉路透社。

“平台告诉我们，现在是2027-2032年实施该计划的合适时机。”

雄心勃勃的保留价

投标人必须提交三个组成部分作为其报价：财务方案、质量方案和财务担保机制。

要使竞标过程成功，财务报价必须超过保密底价，财务和定性因素将一并评估。

“底价需要远高于法甲联赛的预期发展轨迹。这很有雄心，但并非不切实际，”布拉姆利说道，并补充说具体数字仍在最终确定中。

“我们之所以拥有这种舒适和奢华，是因为我们有法甲联赛升级版，没有紧急情况。”

如果招标失败，联盟表示将继续开发其内部平台。

法国职业足球联赛（LFP）已与约 10 家潜在合作伙伴进行了洽谈，尤其热衷于吸引流媒体公司。布拉姆利表示，数字平台对法甲联赛的转播权表现出了浓厚的兴趣。

最近的交易凸显了流媒体服务对体育直播日益增长的需求，迪士尼+获得了西班牙联赛在法国的转播权，而Netflix获得了2030年西班牙和安道尔世界杯的转播权。

拉布鲁内表示：“与两三年前相比，美国平台在体育内容方面的思考已经成熟了一些，因此我们认为这次招标的时机要好得多。”

布拉姆利称此次招标“对法国足球非常重要”，招标结果将于 12 月 4 日公布。

（Vincent Daheron报道，Pritha Sarkar编辑）

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