Future of the Stade de France: decision next week for the appeal of Vinci-Bouygues against the State

Who will manage the Stade de France for the next 30 years? The largest stadium in the country, its 80,000 seats, its dozens of football, rugby and concert games per year, will it change its hand? The concession system, which allowed the Vinci-Bouygues consortium to exploit the stadium since the end of its construction, in 1998, will be modified by the State, owner of the premises, who wishes to disengage and no longer lose money.

After having a time thought of selling it, the state finally decided to relaunch a concession contract, in different terms. The concessionaire will notably have to agree directly with the football and rugby federations, negotiating with them the stadium rental price and the number of games to play. The candidates’ final offers were submitted in October. Then in December, Fininfra, the organization attached to the Ministry of the Economy which pilot this file, chose to enter into exclusive negotiations with the Lyon group GL Events, relegating the outgoing Vinci-Bouygues to 2nd position.

Vinci-Bouygues denounces the incomplete offer of GL and a “rupture of equality”

It is this decision that the outgoing consortium attacked during a summary appeal, examined this Wednesday before the administrative court of Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis). The lawyer for Vinci-Bouygues denounced an “incomplete offer” on the part of his competitor, on several points, and criticized the capacity of GL to manage a stadium of 80,000 places or to conduct magnitude work there. “They should have at least mentioned the identity of the manufacturer who will make the 100 million euros in work,” argued the Vinci-Bouygues council.

Vinci-Bouygues also denounced the collusion of the French Rugby Federation with GL Events, citing two letters from the President of the FFR Florian Grill, one in GL, the other in Vinci-Bouygues, “with radically different tones” , and the links of the Lyon group (owner of the LOU club and partner of the 2023 World Cup) with the world of rugby. And also implies that the displayed proximity of Olivier Ginon, president of GL, with Emmanuel Macron, was able to play.

“The State has chosen a candidate and asked the federations to agree with him,” said the consortium lawyer, denouncing “a break in equality” between the two candidates in these negotiations with the federations.

Paris Entertainment Company is part of the “Technical Team” of GL Events

The lawyers of the State and GL events in turn swept these arguments. “The interest of the outgoing is to bring down the procedure to obtain the status quo. They prepare the ground to be renewed, it is the policy of the burned land, ”tackled the state lawyer. “Does GL have a privileged link with federations?” No, it is not frank camaraderie in discussions. Vinci Bouygues has a fantasized vision of a lack of equal treatment, “said Sophie Pignon, lawyer for GL Events, according to whom the relationships were already” execrable “between federations and Vinci-Bouygues.

And on the reality of Pec’s mission to GL Events, it is a “desperate attempt at destabilization”, believes Me gables. The State and GL provided at the hearing a letter signed by Nicolas Dupeux, the leader of PEC, attesting to the reality of the commitment of his company in the “technical team” of the candidate GL Events. The company that manages Bercy therefore brought its expertise to GL Events in its candidacy for the Stade de France, without however being a shareholder. The defenders also assured that PEC would continue its mission of advice and assistance in the event of a concession awarded to GL Events.

What reassure the judge on the solidity of the GL Events file? The decision will be made “early next week,” said the magistrate. Time is running out, because the current concession ends at the end of August 2025. To prepare for the events of next season, the Stade de France will quickly need to know the name of its future manager.