‘A disgrace’ – Marseille president Pablo Longoria on French football’s TV rights crisis | OneFootball

Olympique de Marseille president Pablo Longoria spoke about the current TV rights crisis that has hit French football, during his end of season review at a press conference attended by Get French Football News. “It’s a huge failure to have four broadcasters since I’ve been in France. I think the problem with French football is a lack of confidence and that we’ve distanced ourselves from the fans. The fans think we’re incompetent and that we live in an ivory tower. How can you ask for £40 a month and at the same time subscribe to BeIN Sport? Honestly, you have to respect people. Everyone has made short-term decisions and you lose credibility.”“What’s more, you (the press) never tell the story of your league. During the week, we’re always embroiled in controversy… We need to sell the championship, the good things. I talked about it with Roberto, it’s one of the most complicated championships, but it’s very poorly sold. You don’t talk about the stories, the big games that everyone wants to see. We’re the second largest economy in the EU with the second highest rate of pay TV in households, and we have lower TV rights than Portugal. It’s a disgrace. ““We have an operational cost for the LFP that will exceed the amount of TV rights, which means we’re completely out of touch with reality. Everyone needs to stop living in a parallel reality.”This season’s broadcaster DAZN confirmed three weeks ago that they have reached an agreement with the LFP to end their Ligue 1 broadcasting contract. The desire from the league is to create their own channelw hich will then be partnered with one, or multiple broadcasters. GFFN | George Boxall – reporting from Stade Vélodrome, Marseille.