The French top flight is heading back to market. The LFP has approved a new tender process for Ligue 1 broadcast rights, opening another crucial chapter for 18 clubs seeking firmer financial ground after several difficult seasons.
The process will run from 3 November to 7 December and concerns the rights cycle from 2027-28 through to 2031-32. Yet clubs are strongly in favour of any successful bidder taking over as early as next season, leaving a potential new broadcaster only six months to build its operation.
Quick facts
- The LFP’s Ligue 1 rights tender will be held between 3 November and 7 December.
- The consultation covers the 2027-28 to 2031-32 seasons.
- A single exclusive package for every Ligue 1 match is available.
- A future rights-holder could acquire the Ligue 1+ channel as a ready-made operation.
- The league wants to raise professional clubs’ broadcast income from next season.
A full-exclusive package on the table
The major change is the availability of one package covering the whole championship exclusively. It marks a departure from split rights arrangements and could appeal to a broadcaster looking to make Ligue 1 a central part of its offer.
Vincent Labrune, the LFP president, said the decision had been made in a changed environment. He pointed to concrete expressions of interest from several market players following meetings held with LFP Media chief executive Olivier Bramly.
Labrune also said recent legislative developments now made it possible to market the rights as a single package, creating what he described as new opportunities to increase the value of the competition.
Ligue 1+ could be part of the deal
The tender gives the eventual winner flexibility over Ligue 1+. A broadcaster could buy the channel as a turnkey product and then carry it exclusively on its own platform.
That option could suit a major digital company, with the LFP hoping to draw interest beyond the established French television groups. Bramly has spent recent weeks meeting potential bidders and visiting newsrooms across France as the league prepares its next move.
There is growing expectation among clubs that a new entrant could emerge from the process. The target is simple, if difficult: improve the modest media revenues flowing to France’s professional clubs and provide a broadcaster capable of supporting Ligue 1 commercially as well as editorially.
