‘The DAZN mistake was worse than Mediapro’ – Lens president attacks French Football League | OneFootball

Speaking in an interview with Le Parisien, Racing Club de Lens president Joseph Oughourlian has attacked governance of French football by the Ligue de Football Professional, under current under-fire president Vincent Labrune. Oughourlian was opposed this summer to French football’s TV deal with British broadcaster DAZN, a position that he has maintained and further attacked the league’s long-term management of domestic and international broadcasting rights. “There is a fundamental problem. You can’t keep changing broadcasters all the time for six years. You can’t keep fragmenting our product,” said Oughoulian – who has regularly opposed the likes of PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and LFP president Vincent Labrune in recent weeks and months over TV rights. “This has led to the loss of our customers, the football fans who watch pay-TV, and that is the responsibility of the League and its president.”“The DAZN mistake is worse than Mediapro,” said the businessman. During the 2020-2021 season, Spain-based Mediapro group launched its Téléfoot channel, but it only lasted a few months, until February 2021. It was a crisis which plunged French football into economic trouble at the same time that clubs were already-impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. “For the Mediapro crisis, we can say: ‘I made a mistake but I won’t make it again.’ But with DAZN, they persisted with this mistake and lost the consumer.”Ligue 1’s presidents recently held a second meeting last Friday to discuss the current crisis over TV rights and the conflict between the French football league (LFP ) and its broadcaster DAZN. According to a report via RMC Sport, tension has risen in the latest meeting over the ongoing crisis.The British-based media platform is reportedly withholding domestic TV rights payments due to a ‘perceived lack of loyalty’ from the Ligue 1 clubs. DAZN are also considering taking legal action against LFP. Ligue 1 clubs were set to receive €57m in TV rights money on Friday, but they only bank beIN Sports’ minor share thus far.GFFN | Freddie Aston