Canal+ should remain the broadcaster of D1 Arkema until 2027

The love story between D1 Arkema and Canal+ is here to stay. Broadcaster of the entire French Women’s Football Championship since 2018 (against 900,000 euros paid to the FFF for the 2022-2023 season), the group led by Maxime Saada had initially made a proposal of less than 1 million euros for the two best posters in the call for tenders for the new cycle 2023-2027, declared unsuccessful on May 12 for lack of satisfactory financial proposals.

Since then, over-the-counter discussions have made good progress between the FFF and the encrypted channel, in particular under the impetus of the president of the body Philippe Diallo. The latter has met Maxime Saada several times to convince him to continue to bet on French women’s football, which is embarking on an ambitious development plan. Jean-Michel Aulas, the former president of OL and perhaps future president of the Women’s Professional League being created, is also involved in the file.

Canal+ expects an improvement in the state of the stadiums

According to our information, the negotiations between the two parties are about to end around a contract which would finally include all the lots (including the 10 matches planned in the clear per season), with the capacity for the encrypted channel to sub-license part of it if necessary. Or to broadcast them on one of its free antennas (C8 is in this case).

In the deal being finalized, a contract over an extended period should be chosen, but with stages and objectives to be achieved for the FFF if it wants to have better remuneration from Canal +. If everything works according to plan, the final amount of rights could experience a measured increase and exceed one million euros annually.

If the extension has not yet been signed, nothing seems to be able to hinder a new long-term adventure between Canal+ and D1 Arkema. Still, the channel had publicly complained, lately, of the state of the stadiums of French clubs, not allowing it to ensure quality production. This point was part of the discussions between the broadcaster and the FFF, which undertook to provide him with much better conditions to exhibit his product.