Stade de France Takeover: PSG Candidate & Reception Obligations
Applications for the transfer and concession of the Saint-Denis enclosure end Thursday at 12 p.m.
What will happen to the Stade de France after the Paris Olympics? Owner of the den of Saint-Denis until 2025, the State had launched two calls for tenders in early March: one for potential buyers and one for companies interested in operating the stadium, which hosts sporting events. and culture for 25 years. In both cases, transfer or renewal of concession, applications for the enclosure valued at 600 million euros will end Thursday, April 27 at 12 noon. Franceinfo: sport summarizes what we know about the procedure for the two Stade de France tenders.
An end of contract in 2025
Hurry up. Inaugurated in 1998 before the Football World Cup, the Stade de France belongs to the State, but it is managed by a private consortium whose concession contract is due to end on June 30, 2025. To finance its construction, the French government had indeed appealed to a group of private companies, in this case Vinci and Bouygues, two giants of the French construction industry (respectively 2/3 and 1/3). Established in 1995, this consortium was in charge of designing, financing, operating and maintaining the infrastructure for a period of 30 years, i.e. until 2025.
An economic model that has proven costly for public finances: not only has the State invested 191 million euros out of the 361 that it cost, but it has also paid the equivalent of 115 million euros to the consortium, as compensation for the absence of a resident club. This financial compensation will no longer be relevant for future owners or tenants of the enclosure. “The transfer will be conditional on the decommissioning of the Stade de France by legislative means, specifies the specifications of the government. The State does not envisage any payment of public assistance to the future operator.”
A desire to enhance the attractiveness of the stadium
The State has defined four main objectives to justify the sale of the 80,000-seat building: to maintain the Stade de France at the level of the best European standards (capacity, quality of spaces, services and entertainment), to maximize its event potential, by make an actor of the ecological transition and finally contribute to the attractiveness of the territory. Improvements in services, the capacity of receptions, the atmosphere within the stadium or even locations for wheelchairs: the government has left a list of recommendations to meet these requests.
Beyond the sale of the Stade de France, the specifications specify to the candidates “the possibility of indicating their interest in the valuation” of the Zac de la Plaine Saulnier. Covering an area of 12 hectares, all of this land located a few steps from the Dionysian enclosure can be negotiated with the contracting authority of Grand Paris, to build a training center or a hotel for example. Before its possible transformation, the Zac de la Plaine Saulnier will first contribute to the 2024 Games, with the development of an Olympic Aquatic Center and spaces dedicated to spectators (bars, toilets, etc.).
The place of the FFF and the FFR guaranteed until 2050
The French Football and Rugby Federations will be “priority for a period of 25 years”. In any case, this is what the official document for the notice of transfer of the stadium specifies. At the beginning of April, the interim president of the “3F”, Philippe Diallo, judging the “current contract with the Stade de France extremely unfavorable” to the Federation, had assured not to consider “a viable solution without the two major football federations and of rugby do not fit in one way or another with these projects”. His request was obviously heard.
In addition, the purchaser of the 80,000-seat enclosure will be required to carry out a certain number of works. These mandatory adjustments will include in particular “upgrades and / or adaptations of devices in connection with public safety”, to avoid, among other things, the failure of the last Champions League final at the Stade de France.
PSG in the ranks
The selection of candidates will be 70% according to economic and financial capacity (overall turnover, etc.). The remaining 30% will identify “the ability to operate the stadium on a technical and commercial level, the ability to generate or attract new events and the ability to manage the design and construction of works”. According to information from France Bleu Paris, Paris Saint-Germain, in conflict with the town hall of the city for the purchase of the Parc des Princes, would be ready to make the necessary concessions to afford the Stade de France.
Asked Tuesday by Senator Laurent Lafon whether the French state could sell this “sporting emblem” to “a structure belonging to a foreign state”, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, did not didn’t rule it out. “There is no reason to dismiss it a priori and on principle,” she said during the session of questions to the government in the Senate. Candidates will then have to wait until the final decision taken by the State for a sale or a concession in 2024, before a final award in 2025.
This article is originally published on francetvinfo.fr
