French soccer's LFP has re-issued its domestic media rights tender for the second-tier men's Ligue 2, covering the next five seasons.

The league body is once more inviting bids for the campaigns from 2024-25 to 2028-29.

The deadline for bids is 6pm CET on June 10 and documents can be sent to mediarights@lfpmedia.fr.

The LFP said the tender process “is open to any publisher or distributor of services.”

The initial Ligue 2 tender was postponed by the LFP last October after its reserve price for the competition was not met by an October 17 deadline.

The reserve prices for the two main second-tier Ligue 2 rights packages at that point stood at €26 million ($27.9 million) and €14 million.

The organization initially tendered the rights to both Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 for the next cycle on September 13 after being granted permission by the French government to extend the length of the contracts from four to five years.

However, with the reserve price for Ligue 1 also not met, the LFP extended the tender process for the top-flight league and opted to negotiate domestic rights directly - but is still without a deal with the new season due to start in two months.

The LFP was hopeful that the increased five-year contract length would attract bids of more value than its high reserve prices for the two main packages of live Ligue 1 rights which stood at €530 million and €270 million per season, respectively.

If those prices were reached, then the main package price would have increased incrementally by €10 million per season, and the second package by €5 million.

The governing body has also set €28 million per season as the price for its five magazine-style and highlights programs across the two divisions.

Together, the LFP was hoping to reel in more than €840 million per season for most of its domestic rights from 2024-25 across both leagues.

That none of the five lots met the reserve price indicates that the prospective rightsholders have a significant difference in the valuation of the product to the LFP.

It has been reported that the LFP is now considering creating its own direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel to show games to avoid a media blackout at the start of next season.

This is viewed as one of several options as the league’s struggle to sell domestic rights continues.

Another option will be to return to the negotiating table with broadcasters such as BeIN, Canal Plus, Amazon, and DAZN and significantly lower its demands.

The confirmed departure of Kylian Mbappe, French soccer’s biggest star, from league champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) to Real Madrid last week is likely to further diminish the value of the rights and put the league in a weaker negotiating position.

This is after marquee players such as Lionel Messi and Neymar also left PSG last year.

Clubs are now beginning to put added pressure on the LFP as broadcast revenue is a huge source of income for teams, with some unable to press ahead with summer transfer plans due to the uncertainty of the media rights.

For the last cycle, global tech and retail giant Amazon paid €250 million per year to show eight matches per week, through its Prime Video streaming service, while pay-TV heavyweight Canal Plus paid €332 million annually for two matches.

Telecoms firm Free held near-live rights to all 10 matches for €42 million. However, this rights package has now been scrapped and built into the other Ligue 1 options for the next cycle.

This is the LFP’s first broadcast rights sales process since agreeing a commercial partnership with private equity group CVC Capital Partners last year.

Through the tie-up, CVC acquired a 13% stake worth €1.5 billion in a media rights subsidiary set up by the LFP - LFP Media - that is marketing the TV and online broadcast rights for Ligue 1.

LFP president Vincent Labrune last year ambitiously stated the league is seeking a total of €1 billion for its domestic and international media rights.

In recent weeks, the LFP has appointed multiple agencies to sell its international rights in global markets.

Sports and entertainment agency Infront secured a multi-year deal to distribute Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 rights in territories across Europe, Asia, and Oceania, while Saran Media will do so in 18 Eastern European and Central Asian markets.