As L’Equipe announced Monday evening on its site, the second round of the call for tenders for exclusive rights to the France team over the period 2022-2028 was not a great success. TF1 and M6 have submitted offers around 2.5 million euros per game, far from the current price – 3.5 million.
The two current broadcasters, after a first round where they had submitted financial proposals deemed catastrophic, have increased them very little.
UEFA, which centralizes the sale of the rights of national teams, has not really appreciated the behavior of the two French channels and does not intend to enter into negotiations by mutual agreement to try to quickly get out of this impasse. On the contrary, the call for tenders was declared unsuccessful, leaving the Blues for the moment without a broadcaster for the four League of Nations matches in June 2022. In addition, the Euros 2024 and 2028, also put on the market, did not find takers either, and here too the call for tenders was declared unsuccessful.
Despite its recent titles, the 2018 World Cup and the League of Nations this year and a Euro final in 2016, the rights of the France team have continued to decline over the years. In 2008, a meeting of the Blues was billed 5 million euros. But competition in the free-to-air television market is sluggish.
In the recent past, TF1 and M6 have even submitted joint offers. What the two chains did not do this time around because they especially do not want to be suspected of getting along. A merger project is indeed underway (on May 17, TF1 announced the acquisition of 30% of the M6 group for 641 million euros) and must be validated by the Competition Authority.
Anyway, the situation is blocked for the moment. And remains worrying for the FFF, already facing financial concerns, and which receives from UEFA 75% of the sums paid by the broadcasters of the France team.
