French soccer is “facing a new financial crisis after DAZN withheld half of its latest payment for Ligue 1’s domestic rights,” a move that prompted the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) to “start legal action” against the streamer, according to Matt Slater of THE ATHLETIC. DAZN in a four-year deal which began this season agreed to pay LFP $415.5M a year for the French rights to “eight of the nine Ligue 1 fixtures each weekend.” However, DAZN has “made it clear it either wants to renegotiate a much lower annual fee or activate the break-clause in its deal” and “walk away at the end of next season.” DAZN has only sent half of a $72.7M installment payment that is due this week to LFP, “putting the rest into an escrow account.” DAZN claims the league has “not done enough to help tackle digital piracy in France,” while some clubs have “not helped DAZN shoulder content for its Ligue 1 platform or with efforts to promote its service.” The LFP has gone to a commercial court in Paris “to obtain, as a matter of urgency, an order against DAZN to pay the sums stipulated in the contract and an injunction to perform all of its contractual obligations.” A possibility coming out of this “third likely divorce in four years” is that French soccer could “take a step it considered last year but decided was too risky: to cut out the middleman and go direct to consumers with its own streaming service” (THE ATHLETIC, 2/12).
French soccer governing body takes legal action against DAZN over Ligue 1 payment
