What once promised to be a financial boom with the arrival of Mediapro in 2018 has instead turned into a long-term decline. The collapse of that deal, combined with a series of strategic missteps, has left French football in a weakened state.
One of the key burdens is the so-called CVC deal, in which the league sold 13% of its commercial revenues in perpetuity to CVC Capital Partners in exchange for short-term liquidity after the pandemic. While it provided immediate relief, it now permanently reduces the amount of money reaching clubs, with a significant share of income diverted to the investment fund.
The situation worsened after the failure of DAZN’s broadcast project in France. Marketed as a “Netflix of sport”, the platform struggled with high subscription prices and widespread piracy, eventually leading to the termination of its contract in 2025. In response, the league launched its own service, Ligue 1+, which has attracted around one million subscribers but carries high operational costs that limit profitability.
The financial strain has directly affected competitiveness on the pitch. Ligue 1 clubs now operate under extreme pressure, with the champion receiving only €11.7 million in domestic TV revenue and the bottom club just €3.6 million. As a result, French teams have increasingly become talent-selling hubs, forced to offload their best players each summer simply to remain financially stable.
This model has widened the gap between Ligue 1 and Europe’s other major leagues — England, Spain, Germany, and Italy — which continue to retain more of their top talent.
The situation has become serious enough that the French Senate has intervened, questioning Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) officials about how the league’s value collapsed so dramatically in less than a decade. The key concern now is whether the new Ligue 1+ platform represents the beginning of recovery or merely the final stage of decline for French football.
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