A Ligue 1 match free for all each week? The National Assembly is finally examining (after several postponements) this Monday the proposed law (PPL) aimed at restructuring French football. The bill includes an amendment requiring one top-flight match per matchday to be aired on an unencrypted channel.
“This would undeniably boost exposure for domestic football”
Currently, watching a Ligue 1 game requires a subscription to the Ligue1+ platform, starting at €15 per month. The service has around one million subscribers. “The growing number of broadcasters for different sports competitions, and thus the multiplication of paid subscriptions, is driving spectators away from sporting events and encouraging piracy,” the deputies who filed the amendment explain. “To allow the widest possible audience to access these professional competitions, each sale of television rights should include a package for the free broadcast of one match per week. A free-to-air Ligue 1 match every weekend would undoubtedly help promote national football. This proposal comes from the 2021 information mission on sports broadcasting rights led by MP Cédric Roussel.”
“Two years ago, the Professional Football League (LFP) estimated that 22 million French people were interested in Ligue 1,” recalls sports economist Pierre Rondeau. “Out of those 22 million, only one million are subscribed to Ligue1+. There is enormous potential to attract a new audience. If we tell them it’s free, maybe one, two, or four million would watch on television.”
The LFP disagrees strongly. The league opposes the amendment, arguing that free broadcasts could devalue the TV rights, which account for more than 50% of club revenues. Lobbying by the league and broadcasters aimed at lawmakers has been intense since the amendment was revealed, and is expected to continue through today’s debate.
The PPL was already adopted by the Senate last year, and by an Assembly committee in May (where the amendment was added). After Monday’s plenary session, the bill can still be modified by a joint committee (CMP) scheduled for July 21. The text covers a wide range of issues: anti-piracy measures, a stronger role for federations and the Sports Ministry in governing professional leagues, regulated redistribution of broadcast revenues, and capped executive compensation. Efforts to contact the LFP, club presidents, and Ligue1+ for comment were unsuccessful.
