Mediapro/Téléfoot: "We dare not imagine a blackout of French football" (C. Lepetit, CDES)

"This is an economic disaster for French football (if Mediapro refuses to pay its second instalment of around €140m for the TV rights to the 2020-21 Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT). In the very short term: there are no TV rights paid and therefore no payments to the clubs, and this is a very big cash flow problem for the clubs. The second question is: how does the LFP react? How are matches made accessible on television? We dare not imagine a blackout on French football..." said Christophe Lepetit, head of economic studies at the Centre de Droit et d'Economie du Sport (CDES, Centre for Sports Law and Economics), to the French regional daily Le Télégramme on 09/10/2020.

Mediapro was due to pay its second instalment on 05/10/2020 but sent a letter to the LFP asking for a delay in payment (which was refused) and then for a renegotiation of the amount of the fees for the first season due to the health crisis. The French League must then distribute this money between the clubs on 17/10/2020. The League could take out a loan to pay this instalment to the clubs, according to the French…