Elan Béarnais, the professional basketball club of Pau-Orthez, will be demoted administratively. His commitment for the 2022-2023 season in the French championship (Pro A), as well as at the lower level (Pro B), was refused for financial reasons, announced Thursday, June 23, the National Basketball League -ball.
In a press release, the body mentions “the lack of guarantee [financière] regarding the continuity of the club’s operations”while adding that he had “the possibility of formulating a request for a free appeal before the higher management council to contest this decision”.
If the decision were to be upheld, the club would thus be forced to leave the professional national level and would be demoted to the federal amateur level.
Elan Béarnais is a historic French basketball club holding nine French championship titles and one European title (Coupe Korac, 1984). He won the Coupe de France this year and was a semi-finalist in the French Pro A championship.
Control of the club was ceded a year ago by the urban community of Pau-Pyrénées, the city of Pau and the community of communes of Lacq-Orthez to the American investment fund Counterpointe Sports Group, now majority shareholder.
According to the National Directorate of Management Consulting and Control (DNCG), the financial policeman of the National League, the club has a strong operating loss. The daily The Republic of the Pyrenees had mentioned, in mid-May, an operating deficit of more than 2 million euros on a budget of 7.8 million. ” We asked that the net situation be at least in balance “, had explained at the beginning of the week to The Team Philippe Ausseur, the president of the DNCG.
