A crowd of jubilant supporters, tricolor flags in hand, who don’t want to miss a bit of the show. On the ceiling, dozens of projectors with blue, white and red beams. In the center, a huge red carpet, on which the first French medalists of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in judo, swimming and even cycling parade. This is the ideal painting. On July 27, Club France, a gathering place for supporters and athletes of the French team, will open its doors in the Grande Halle de la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of the capital.
A tradition since 1988 and the Seoul Olympics. For the 2024 version, at home, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) and the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) have thought big. Over 40,000 square meters, including 15,000 indoors, sports events, artistic performances and broadcasts of the events on a giant screen will take place every day during the Olympic period. During the Paralympics, only the building with the large metal structures will remain open. No less than 700,000 people are expected there during the summer.
Confident organizers
This giant celebration has the primary objective of promoting French sport. But at what cost ? On March 18, the day after the publication of an article of Parisian, the president of the CNOSF, David Lappartient, recognized: “The financial balance that we had planned has not yet been achieved.” Clearly, a deficit – and not the least important one – is to be feared. Today, the two committees assure that the trajectory is for the moment “controlled”. “It’s daily work which is not easy. I am certainly not declaring victory, but we are making good progress”, promises Arnaud Courtier, executive director of Club France, to L’Express. The fact remains that during its general meeting on May 30, the CNOSF presented a budget with a deficit of 1.3 million euros.
The bill could turn out to be much higher. “It is a pharaonic project which was decided far too late, it could cause a deficit of 6 to 10 million euros,” warns the president of a sports federation very familiar with the matter. For comparison, in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016, Club France posted respective deficits of 3.5 and 4.4 million euros. At the time, the two committees had worked hard “to attract the members of the IOC and convince the French government as well as the city of Paris that a candidacy in 2024 was possible”, says Denis Masseglia, president of the CNOSF from 2009 to 2021. In terms of finances, everything had been anticipated. “To be able to cover expenses without danger, we must set aside one million euros per year at each general meeting,” indicates the former rowing champion. However, the CNOSF reserves are already dry. “Today the Club France budget has already used up the approximately 5 million euros in reserve. This saddens me,” regrets a former executive of the association.
Businesses are not there
To hope to achieve balance, the leaders of Club France are firstly counting on spectators, with a 5 euro ticket for the Olympics (entrance will be free for the Paralympics). On this side, no problem: “The public will respond en masse, it will be a very big popular success”, assures a good connoisseur of Club France. Then, several adjustments have already been made since David Lappartient’s statements. “We have reduced the budget by around 1.5 million euros, which brings us to 21 million euros of Olympic and Paralympic expenses. The experience will remain equivalent. For example, we have installed less decoration,” explains Elie Patrigeon, director of the CPSF, without further details.
The point of vigilance concerns rather “hospitality” [NDLR : espaces privés pour accueillir des clients] sold to businesses. The latter do not jostle at the gate. “The difficulty lies in the fact that Club France has never existed on its own territory. There is real educational work to make people understand what the product is and why it is good to have it. come”, underlines Arnaud Courtier. There are still tickets to be taken. “It’s always the same thing with these kinds of events. The closer we get to the start, the more the switches will turn on and the more companies will come forward,” an executive from the organization wants to believe. On the government side, we assure “that we are monitoring the subject closely, given the potential financial consequences for the CNOSF”, assures a government source.
On the side of the federations, we are also reluctant. While most will host activities during the day to introduce people to their sports, a good number are reluctant to buy hospitality, the price of which is considered too high. “The offer was designed for companies. The size of my federation does not allow me to take it,” admits the boss of one of them. Some preferred to set up camp elsewhere and not just because of the bill. Within Club France, only official sponsors can appear, a significant shortfall for federations that would like to activate other brands. “We may be a big family, but everyone has their constraints,” admits Arnaud Courtier. Philippe Bana found himself tied hand and foot: “The only thing we were able to do is to carry out a three-day event. We are already involved at the Porte de Versailles, in Lille and at the handball house in Créteil, the largest fan zone, we cannot commit ourselves any further, we did what we could,” admits the president of the French handball federation.
Added to this are security constraints, which are already high and which could become even heavier. To completely close the outdoor area of the site, the organizers had to scramble to find barriers. “As the Olympics approached, all the other places were on top, prices increased sharply,” reports Elie Patrigeon. The two committees are now counting on the dynamic set in motion by the Olympic flame to convince the last holdouts to join the party. “Obviously on a project like this, which depends largely on hospitality and public entry, it’s always a little distressing,” concedes Michel Callot, president of the cycling federation and treasurer of the CNOSF. Victory will be decided over the last few meters.
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