“PSG is the Park and the Park is Paris. » This formula used by all municipal candidates in Paris could well become reality with Emmanuel Grégoire (PS). The former first deputy of Anne Hidalgo and socialist candidate for mayor of Paris unveiled his project for a “New Parc des Princes” this Tuesday evening in L’Équipe. And for the first time, he claims to be ready to submit the sale of the historic site occupied by Paris-Saint-Germain to a vote by the Paris Council.
A 180-degree turn from the position defended until now by outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo, who has always categorically refused to cede the stadium belonging to the City. “On a legal-financial level, I would like to propose two options for a vote by the Paris Council,” explains Emmanuel Grégoire to our colleagues from the Team. The first consists of a trust rental with a long-term contract. The second, a sales scenario. “So yes, Mayor, the sale is an option that I will propose to the Paris Council,” he says.
A global urban project
But this possible transfer would not be without compensation. The socialist candidate sets several strict conditions. In the event of a sale, “no matter what legal form it takes, I am certain that we will achieve our common objective: that PSG remains at the Park”, he assures in L’Équipe.
Among the clauses envisaged, one is unavoidable: in the event of a cessation of activity or bankruptcy of PSG, the Parc des Princes must remain an outdoor football stadium. The City would also have a priority right of repurchase in the event of resale of the club by its Qatari shareholder. Another ban: no naming can be associated with the Parc des Princes, a brand to which Parisians remain attached.
Emmanuel Grégoire goes further than a simple expansion of the stadium. It proposes a real urban project around the Porte de Saint-Cloud, as the club may have wished. “It is an urban, economic, ecological, social and sporting project: a real partnership between a capital city and its club,” he explains. Its plan, which partly takes up the project agreed several years ago between the City and PSG but remained on the drawing board, which notably provided for the covering of part of the ring road to create a large garden connected to the Porte de Saint-Cloud.
A separate commercial space
In the “multisport” zone currently including the Géo André stadium, the old gas station and the parking lot, the candidate is proposing a transfer in the form of an occupancy lease, separate from the Park. This space would allow PSG to deploy economic activities to increase its commercial income. “I particularly dream of a PSG museum on the site! », he confides to L’Équipe. Enough to get closer to the “PSG land” hoped for by the club’s owners.
The sports sections currently training at Géo André would not be abandoned: basement gymnasiums, a dojo and a multi-purpose multi-sport hall would be created. Emmanuel Grégoire also promises that the revenue generated by the operation would be allocated “to local sport and the renovation of sports equipment in Paris”.
An explosive political issue
This unprecedented positioning comes at a time when the Parc des Princes file has been bogged down for years. Negotiations between the City and PSG, begun in 2018 for an expansion of the enclosure, were broken off at the end of 2021. The former first deputy, who led these discussions at the time, already explained at the time that the club had made this expansion conditional on the sale of the stadium. “It was at this moment that the discussion derailed, with the approach of the World Cup in Qatar,” he specifies, in reference to the criticisms of Parisian elected officials on the holding of the tournament in the Emirate.
Faced with the City’s refusal, PSG accelerated its move project. Last June, the European champion club selected two sites for its future large stadium: Poissy in Yvelines and Massy in Essonne. A prospect that horrifies Emmanuel Grégoire. “PSG in Poissy? It doesn’t exist,” he had already insisted at the end of September.
With his proposal for a “New Parc des Princes”, the socialist candidate hopes to break the deadlock. “We can preserve the soul of the Park, make the Porte de Saint-Cloud more breathable and allow PSG to dream bigger, by staying in Paris; And all this, from 2026! », he promises in the sports daily. It remains to convince the elected representatives of the Paris Council, and especially the Qatari leaders of the club. And before that, Parisians in the March 2026 elections.
