The confirmation on Tuesday of three new cases of Covid-19 at Olympique de Marseille, bringing the affected numbers to four, resulted in the postponement of the opening match of Ligue 1 on Friday against Saint-Etienne. It is finally Bordeaux-Nantes, initially scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. and brought forward to Friday at 7 p.m., which will open the ball.
This blow is harsh and raises many questions for channels that focus on sports in the fall. If only for the new Téléfoot channel, the main address for French football this year, which today presented its new program schedule. Fortunately, with OM-ASSE, it’s only a game and not a whole day. Téléfoot will be able to broadcast its first Ligue 1 meeting on Friday with the Bordeaux-Nantes poster. But on the same day, the Mediapro channel will broadcast a documentary called “New Era” on the effects of the health crisis on football …
Nadal withdraws from US Open
Eleven L1 clubs have reported 40 cases of Covid-19 in recent weeks, the vast majority of which after resuming training in June, and a maximum of 5,000 spectators is allowed in the stadiums. But the round ball is not the only discipline threatened.
France Télévisions is preparing for an extraordinary return to school focused on sport. The Tour de France, a highly anticipated event, must indeed begin at the end of August. The public channel will then broadcast the Roland-Garros tournament from September 20 (Amazon will not start broadcasting part of this tournament until next year).
Without going as far as a cancellation, events can be disrupted. Rafael Nadal, the world number two, has already declared that he will not participate in the US Open tennis, which is held from August 31 to September 13, due to the health situation in the United States. World number two Simona Halep has also announced her package for this competition broadcast by beIN Sports for the same reasons. Only four Top 10 players will be present in New York.
The Rugby Top 14, broadcast by Canal + (which also has many Ligue 1 football matches), is also disrupted, with 20 players from the Stade Français team having had to be isolated. Still in rugby, the Six Nations Tournament at the start of spring this year, broadcast on France Télévisions, is also due to end this fall …