‘The DAZN mistake was worse than Mediapro’ – Lens president attacks French Football League

Speaking in an interview with Le Parisien, Racing Club de Lens president Joseph Oughourlian has attacked governance of French football by the Ligue de Football Professional, under current under-fire president Vincent Labrune. Oughourlian was opposed this summer to French football’s TV deal with British broadcaster DAZN, a position that he has maintained and further attacked the league’s long-term management of domestic and international broadcasting rights.

“There is a fundamental problem. You can’t keep changing broadcasters all the time for six years. You can’t keep fragmenting our product,” said Oughoulian – who has regularly opposed the likes of PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and LFP president Vincent Labrune in recent weeks and months over TV rights. “This has led to the loss of our customers, the football fans who watch pay-TV, and that is the responsibility of the League and its president.”

“The DAZN mistake is worse than Mediapro,” said the businessman. During the 2020-2021 season, Spain-based Mediapro group launched its Téléfoot channel, but it only lasted a few months, until February 2021. It was a crisis which plunged French football into economic trouble at the same time that clubs were already-impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. “For the Mediapro crisis, we can say: ‘I made a mistake but I won’t make it again.’ But with DAZN, they persisted with this mistake and lost the consumer.”

Ligue 1’s presidents recently held a second meeting last Friday to discuss the current crisis over TV rights and the conflict between the French football league (LFP ) and its broadcaster DAZN. According to a report via RMC Sport, tension has risen in the latest meeting over the ongoing crisis.

The British-based media platform is reportedly withholding domestic TV rights payments due to a ‘perceived lack of loyalty’ from the Ligue 1 clubs. DAZN are also considering taking legal action against LFP. Ligue 1 clubs were set to receive €57m in TV rights money on Friday, but they only bank beIN Sports’ minor share thus far.

GFFN | Freddie Aston