the closed door, this great void that suffocates collective indoor sports

Posted on December 23, 2020 at 6:00 p.m., updated at 12:03 p.m.

“In camera, normally, is when you’ve done something stupid! “ Former bronze medalist at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Laurent Munier casts a disillusioned glance, Friday December 11, at the Phare enclosure, the den of Chambéry Savoie Mont-Blanc Handball of which he is the general manager. The lights go out, the sound system spits out the riffs of Thunderstruck AC / DC, the atmosphere promises to be electric for Ivry’s reception. But the room is empty. There is no audience.

Since the reconfinement at the end of October, all professional sports matches in France have been played behind closed doors, and the Savoyard city is no exception: not the shadow of a spectator for three matches at Le Phare, which usually brings together 3,700 faithful by meeting.

As in Chambéry, the Prado de Bourges rings hollow, Wednesday, December 16, while the announcer shouts to present each player in the match between the Berry club and Lattes-Montpellier, in the French women’s basketball championship. “You have to imagine that with our boiling audience, it’s not the same”, explains Agnès Saint-Ges, the president of Tango Bourges Basket.

“Fill in the silences”

Unlike other clubs – like Chambéry – Bourges did not choose to broadcast recordings of supporters’ chants during the match, but the sound animation remains in place. “We kept the same staging, it was important for the players”, explains Agnès Saint-Ges. “To stay in our routine, it is essential to fill the silences”, breathes Elodie Godin, the Berruyère captain.

“I’ve been president of this club for twenty-three years, at no time could I imagine an empty room on match night, it’s sad…”, laments Alain Poncet, who runs Chambéry. No more than the Savoyard would have thought to lose 120,000 euros per home game. The earthquake of the pandemic linked to the new coronavirus has passed through there, and its aftershocks are suffering martyrdom in professional sport. “The closed door is dramatic, we pay it cash! “

Like many basketball, handball and volleyball clubs, Chambéry relies for a very large part (70%) on ticketing revenues (subscribers and the general public) and, above all – more than 50% of the budget -, on private partnerships (places for companies, private shows, seminars, etc.). An economic model little dependent on public subsidies (around 20%), but which suffers from matches without an audience.

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