France’s Ligue 1 McDonald’s has agreed a five-year deal worth a reported €500m per year with DAZN and BeIN Sports giving the broadcasters the rights to screen matches from the country’s top football league.
According to press reports, DAZN will pay €400m per year to screen eight Ligue 1 matches every matchday on an exclusive basis, while BeIN Sports will run one match per week every Saturday evening for €100m per year.
The agreement marks the end of long-winded negotiations between the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) and potential rights holders that have seen the price of the rights drop significantly.
Talks started in September 2023 to thrash out the next five-year deal and LFP, which up to this year was receiving €700m per year from the likes of Canal+ and BeIN Sports, was hoping to receive offers of around €1bn per year.
The reported €500m annual fee is therefore a substantial drop on LFP’s current package and reflects broadcasters’ refusal to pay over the odds, even for what are considered to be premium rights.
Canal+, Amazon Prime, DAZN, and BeIN Sports were the main contenders for the rights, but as the ‘historic’ sports broadcaster in France, it has held rights to top-flight football in the country since its launch in 1983, Canal+ pulled out of the bidding process. The group’s CEO Maxime Saada accused the LFP of deliberately inflating its prices and said it was demanding “reserve” prices of €800m to push out contenders.
For DAZN, the move is another step in its rollout across major European markets. The group is a licensed sports betting operator in the UK and Germany and launched broadcasting operations in France last year as part of a distribution agreement with Canal+. It also owns the rights for Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga.
CEO Shay Segev told L’Équipe last year that DAZN wanted to be “a major actor” on France’s TV landscape and become “the home of sport” where consumers would be able to purchase match tickets, merchandising or bet on sports.
According to L’Equipe, the new deal with LFP can be terminated after two seasons if DAZN fails to attract 1.5 million subscribers, while an automatic €50m bonus payment will be triggered if it reaches that number of subscribers after the partnership’s first season. BeIN Sports’ contract is understood to be for an initial three-year period that can be extended to five years.
Shay Segev said the agreement meant DAZN will “create an unrivalled destination for French football fans” and will help “Ligue 1 McDonald’s grow in reach, audience and value”. “We can help deliver that with our fan-focused innovative approach to production, marketing and distribution. And we are committed to making this work for all parties – if French football does well, DAZN does well!’
Vincent Labrune, President of LFP added: “This major agreement with DAZN opens a new chapter in the history of Ligue 1 McDonald’s. With DAZN, the LFP and the clubs are committed to modernising access to our championship’s content and offering simple and comprehensive access to the French public’s favourite sports series every weekend.”
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