Will PSG abandon Parc des Princes for Stade de France? This idea would have seemed incongruous a few months ago, but the longer the conflict between the Parisian club and the Paris City Hall continues, the more the idea of this move takes on thickness.
According to information from the newspaper L'Equipe, Friday, confirmed to Le Monde, Paris Saint-Germain is preparing to apply for the call for tenders launched by the State to sell the Stade de France by the summer. 2025. On January 15, Anne Hidalgo declared that the Parc des Princes was "not for sale", dissatisfied with the offer made. The club refuses to undertake expansion and modernization work, estimated at 500 million euros, without owning the enclosure.
The price of the Stade de France is estimated at "647 million euros", according to the state accounts established in 2021. The state published the two calls for tenders on March 7: one for the transfer, the other for a new concession, with a deadline of April 27 for the submission of applications. The submitted offers will be studied in 2024, for a probable award in 2025.
"The only thing that has changed is that the sports minister said she really wanted to sell, and implied that PSG could be a buyer," said the club's entourage to Le Monde. PSG's main strategy remains to stay at the Parc des Princes, and ideally to buy it back to be able to expand it, but the showdown with the Mayor of Paris, especially since the World Cup, pushes them to "explore all avenues" . The capital club has also commissioned a study from Legends Hospitality, a firm specializing in sports arenas, to study the possibilities of a new stadium.
"Critical need for a bigger stadium"
If necessary, PSG plans to build a new enclosure to have a tool similar to the brand new cash machine built by Tottenham in London, and is studying the possibilities to do this, particularly in terms of available land. The Stade de France is also considered, but would not be the number one option. "One thing is certain: the club has a crucial need for a bigger stadium", they say in the entourage of President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
With less than 50,000 seats, the Parc des Princes has become a shortfall for PSG, and having a larger enclosure would allow the club to relieve its finances – especially vis-à-vis financial fair play. PSG considers it atypical that only OL owns its stadium in France.
If the PSG goes to the end of this option for the secondary moment, some constraints are linked to a possible takeover of the Stade de France according to the call for tenders: "Hosting as a priority for a period of twenty-five years the events organized by the French Football Federation and the Rugby Federation, as well as major international sporting events" and "carry out a minimum base of works [...], upgrades and/or adaptations of systems related to public safety (ticketing and traffic control access to doors, access gates, fences, public information, storage, video surveillance). »
In the club's entourage, we observe that the government is really pushing to get rid of the Stade de France, for financial reasons, and would welcome Paris Saint-Germain settling there. Which of the State or the City of Paris will win the case? PSG is more than ever a political issue.
