In a statement, Cédric Roussel, MP for Alpes-Maritimes and President of the “Sports Economy” Study Group, takes aim at the Canal+ group and accuses it of “playing with fire.”
Cédric Roussel laments in a statement released this Thursday the stance of Canal+, whose CEO, Maxime Saada, has sought to return the matches sublicensed by Bein Sport to the Professional Football League (LFP). He also called for the launch of a new tender process.
Maxime Saada announced during an interview with the newspaper *Le Figaro* on Tuesday that the Canal+ channel intended to return the lot number 3 that it broadcasts, which consists of 20% of the French football championship, Ligue 1 Uber Eats, for a total of 330 million euros per year.
The LREM MP from Nice, Cédric Roussel, laments that *”French football should not be held hostage by a political showdown led by Canal+ in a potential negotiation to lower VAT”*. He also adds that the group *”is playing with fire and with the thousands of jobs in our professional clubs up to our local and amateur clubs”*.
According to the MP, the group is positioning itself in a commercial stance in order to lower the price of French football as a mere product, and all of this during a health crisis period that has a huge impact in all areas, particularly the economy.
14 January Press Release
>”I deplore the attitude of Canal+. French ⚽️, both amateur and professional clubs and their thousands of jobs should not be held hostage by a new private actor who is playing with fire.” [pic.twitter.com/CJLU30HHZf](https://t.co/CJLU30HHZf)
— Cédric ROUSSEL (@CedricRoussel06) [January 14, 2021](https://twitter.com/CedricRoussel06/status/1349701503498465281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
