Leak of a tense meeting between Ligue 1 presidents about TV rights shocks France: "You intimidate everyone!"

Wednesday evening, when most football fans in France were getting ready to watch Paris Saint-Germain destroy Brest or Kylian Mbappé score a hat-trick in Champions League, the 20:00 news on France 2 broadcast a blockbuster news: the leak of a meeting between club presidents from Ligue 1 about the allocation of TV rights, a headache that still haunts French football.

The meeting by video conference took place on July 14, 2024, and the club presidents agreed to give the Ligue 1 rights to DAZN: eight games per matchday, except for one which would be exclusive for beIN Sports, the Qatari owned channel. The meeting showed several moments of tension between club presidents, particularly among Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, PSG's president, who even calls John Textor, Lyon president, "a cowboy coming from nowhere", after Textor said that Nasser as "tyrannizing everyone".

L'Equippe published a full transcript of the interview (via RMC Sport). Some flatter the Qatari, like Vincent Labrune, president of the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), who says that "thank you to beIN Sports and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi" after the Qatari offers to complete the DAZN deal. However, Joseph Oughourlian, Lens president, says that "You have to understand a concept that clearly escapes you at beIN, or at PSG, or both, which is called conflict of interest. You intimidate everyone!"

There will be another meeting on March 3 to solve the TV rights problem

The meeting goes on for an hour before a vote approves dividing the rights between DAZN and beIN Sports. Some members of the meeting said they were considering taking legal action for the leak of the confidential meeting, while sources close to PSG said to RMC Sport that this is sign that someone is trying to harm Nasser, indicted last week for complicity in abuse of power.

Months after the deal was signed dividing the rights between the two broadcasters, DAZN has been accused of not paying the clubs what promised. The LFP then approved last week the use of reserve funds to pay the clubs, even without waiting for the decision of the Paris Economic Activities Tribunal. Meanwhile, DAZN says that they "have been deceived by the League on the product they purchased", and as reported by RMC Sport, demand compensation. The matter will be solved in courts, while club presidents, as well as LFP, DAZN and even the minister of Sports, will meet on March 3 to try to find a solution to the conflict.