Top French Soccer League in Dire Straits Due to Dead Broadcast Deal

Although European soccer is generally considered to be on the rise, the top league in France finds itself in a precarious financial position after mediation talks with domestic streaming partner DAZN fell apart.

Ligue 1 and U.K.-based DAZN were only one year into a multi-year partnership that was supposed to run until 2029 and see the streamer pay an annual fee of €400 million (about $455 million under current conversion rates) for eight weekly matches. Halfway through this season, DAZN sought to renegotiate its deal.

Following a protracted dispute that included legal action over DAZN withholding €70 million (about $79 million) owed in February, the two sides wound up in mediation.

On Tuesday, mediation talks officially broke down. LFP Media, Ligue 1’s commercial and broadcasting arm, issued a short statement, in French. Translated, it “acknowledges the failure of the mediation initiated in early March 2025. The contract binding the parties remains in force, and LFP Media expects its partner to fully fulfill all of its obligations under this agreement.”

Despite there being “several proposals, the mediation unfortunately did not succeed in sufficiently bridging the gap between the parties. It has therefore not been possible — at this stage — to reach an agreement for an amicable resolution of the situation,” DAZN said in a statement to The Athletic.

Representatives for Ligue 1 and DAZN did not respond to requests from Front Office Sports for additional comment.

A further legal fight is likely now that mediation talks have broken down. 

For DAZN, the loss of its agreement with Ligue 1 might not be a backbreaker. In late January, the company said its “extraordinary” success in 2024 cleared the path for “an ambitious and transformative 2025.” While it referenced Ligue 1 as one of its partners, it touted other relationships, including with multiple other European soccer leagues, the NFL, FIBA, and the PGA Tour. DAZN also has a deal with FIFA, announced in December, to stream all games for the newly expanded men’s Club World Cup, for free, in an agreement reportedly worth $1 billion. Last month it was announced that TNT Sports will partner with DAZN on a deal to be the U.S. network that will air World Cup games.

For Ligue 1, the situation may be more dire. The Athletic called it a “financial crisis” for the French league, including because part of the reported reason for the breakdown in talks is that Ligue 1 has not amassed enough viewership to be considered a strong investment. According to Deloitte’s most recent annual review of football finance, during the 2022-23 soccer season, Ligue 1 generated roughly $2.53 billion in revenue, fifth best compared to its European counterpart leagues, behind Serie A ($3.04 billion), LaLiga ($3.77 billion), Bundesliga ($4.09 billion), and the Premier League ($7.43 billion).

Ligue 1’s media rights issue has stopped at least one potential investment from taking place. Two-time Super Bowl champion Logan Ryan recently told Front Office Sports he had previously been close to a deal to buy into Toulouse FC, which plays in Ligue 1, but chose not to proceed after the league’s media rights deal “came in much lower than the clubs anticipated.”

This all comes amid the context that, despite Ligue 1 being considered one of the Big Five European soccer leagues, it has faced longstanding struggles. According to the Deloitte report, which came out two months before Ligue 1 entered into its now-dead deal with DAZN, the French league was “forecast to see a decline in the value of its domestic broadcast rights, largely due to frustrations amongst existing broadcast partners and a lack of competitive tension in the market.”

“How material this reduction will be remains to be seen, with the new deal yet to be agreed despite the first season under the new cycle commencing in August 2024,” the Deloitte report said.