Television rights: French football in “exclusive negotiations” with HVAC Fund for its company

The Professional Football League wants to sell 13% of the capital of its future trading company to quickly obtain cash and, in the longer term, new recipes.

Le Monde

The Professional Football League (LFP) announced, Friday, March 18, that it had initiated “exclusive negotiations” with the CVC Investment Fund for the entry of the latter to the capital of the commercial company. It will put in place to manage the television rights of the league 1.

This transaction, which would result in the acquisition by this investor of 13% of the capital of this commercial company, was voted unanimously of the Board of Directors of the FPA. It should value the new structure “at 11.5 billion euros”, indicates the league in a statement.

For French football, affected by the failure of the old holder of TV rights, Mediapro, and the health crisis, the creation of a commercial company and the call to a financial actor respond to a need for cash and , in the longer term, a desire to find new recipes.

They are made possible by the adoption at the end of February of the law “Sport”. Senators had sought to bride the device, setting up 15% the share of an external private investor. But the deputies had reduced this threshold to 20%, as originally planned (and wanted by the government).

By using an investment fund, the main French football clubs certainly accept to deprive oneself of a part of their revenues. But this is the price to pay to avoid a financial debacle at the end of the season, while the Ligue 1 clubs will have accumulated 1.86 billion euros of losses between 2019 and 2022, according to a source close to the LFP.

In return, these same clubs expect to see the new partner Develop national, but especially international and digital audiovisual rights.

Spanish clubs had already borrowed the same path. And it is also the HVAC fund that has acquired – despite the opposition of four clubs, including Real Madrid and FC Barcelona – 10% of the capital of a new company created by the Liga, the head structure of the Spanish Championship of football, for 2.7 billion euros.

The Italian Football League (Serie A) had tried to do the same thing, but the project failed to convince clubs, while a consortium of funds, including CVC and Advent, was ready to value Italian football € 15 billion in injecting 1.5 billion euros.

/Media reports.