The “green wave”, which swept through the second round of the municipal elections on Sunday June 28, has brought bastions of French professional sport into its tide. Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Poitiers, Tours in particular have gone green. Grenoble has been showing color since 2014 and extends the lease for at least six more years with the re-election of Eric Piolle.
Are the policies of the new green mayors compatible with sport in general? Are they especially with pro sport, not always at the forefront in the environmental fight? Before Euro 2016 in France, EELV (Europe Ecologie-les Verts) had mobilized against the construction of large stadiums deemed too expensive and bad for the environment.
Upon his arrival in 2014, the mayor of Grenoble, rare Green elected at the time, was angry with the Tour de France no longer wanting to pay the 100,000 euros requested to host a stage. He had sworn that during his tenure, the snake on wheels would no longer put the casings in his city. Now that they are in business, what are the Greens going to do with professional sport in their city?
In Bordeaux, the mayor is already asking for the head of the president of the Girondins
Pierre Hurmic, the new councilor of Bordeaux, set the tone. Barely twenty-four hours after his election, the ecologist asked the shareholder of the Girondins, the American investment fund King Street, to separate from President Frédéric Longuépée, in open conflict with the supporters. In an interview in Southwest, he said the situation was “serious”.
“A club cannot afford the luxury of backing off the main supporter club with such contempt. It is normal that the mayor weighs all his political weight to meet the shareholder and tell him to endow this club with a new president. The days of Mr. Longuépée must be counted ”, judged the elected EELV.
The unions Premier League and the UCPF, which represent the clubs of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, were quick to respond, denouncing Tuesday an “interference in the life of this big football club totally unacceptable as well in the background only in form. ” Already a first penknife in the relationship between Greens and professional sport.
“Professional clubs are important”, swears the new mayor of Poitiers
On the Strasbourg side, where Jeanne Barseghian is now in charge, Racing supporters fear that the expansion of the Meinau from 26,000 to 32,000 places is threatened. During his campaign, the head of the EELV list reassured them, “the project is launched and must continue”, and promised since his election to quickly meet the architectural firms concerned.
“Our priority, echoes the new mayor of Poitiers Léonore Moncond’huy where a Pro B basketball club and another in League A volleyball cohabit, it is sport for all. Does this mean that we will no longer fund professional clubs? Not at all ! They are very important because they allow a feeling of belonging to the city. What matters is that they are open to the city and take action in favor of everyone. “
OL have nothing to fear from the new majority
In Lyon which, ironically, will be displayed in Green during the next derby against Saint-Etienne, the new mayor Grégory Doucet will not ask for the departure of the president of OL unlike his Bordeaux counterpart. Even if he probably did not support it, Jean-Michel Aulas has nothing to fear or expect from the new municipality according to the Lyon lawyer Etienne Tête: “The debate is closed since it has already had everything, he insists without saying his name. He has his stadium, received all the public facilities he wanted. “
The OL boss has not commented publicly on the election of his new mayor: “He is asking for additional means of transport to access the stadium and I can hardly imagine that he is granted now unless it is deemed necessary this which seems unlikely to me. But otherwise, it’s over. Collomb gave him everything! The contracts are signed and even if they wanted to, the new judiciary will not be able to come back to it ”, seems to regret Etienne Tête, who was elected EELV to the regional council of Rhône-Alpes.
And where are the relations between Grenoble and the Tour de France? The mayor has kept his word. During his mandate between 2014 and 2020, the Tour did not return to his city. But it is Eric Reolle re-elected who will give the start of the 17th stage of the Grande Boucle, Grenoble-Méribel, on September 16. Relations with the Tour are looking good. The municipality with the agglomeration and the department will pay well the 60,000 euros to accommodate a stage start.
Public / private partnerships are the ones that allow communities, for example, to build stadiums without going into debt. The other side of the coin is that for twenty or thirty years, cities have to pay rents to private companies that manage equipment. In Green cities, that is likely to change.
“In their management, the Greens will be very attentive to public spending, to transfers of money from the public to the private. This is one of their convictions, ”breathes a regular in the environmental movement. During his campaign, the new mayor of Bordeaux had wanted the sale of the Matmut Atlantique stadium, where the Girondins are playing: “It doesn’t shock me that the club owns its work tool”, he said. The sale could save the city € 3 million per year.
In Marseille, in a city where OM is a religion, the Vélodrome stadium is an abyss for the city’s finances. Environmentalist Michèle Rubirola, who came out on top on Sunday, wants to change the situation. She will also have a say in the offer to buy the club from Saudi Arabia. Not sure that the two entities are philosophically on the same wavelength.
