Paris Saint-Germain, in conflict with the Paris town hall, which does not want to sell it the Parc des Princes, is officially no longer a candidate for the purchase or concession of the Stade de France (SDF). The news was communicated to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday January 3 by a source close to the club, confirming information from Le Parisien.
The owner of PSG, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which had indicated several months ago that it was studying the file “seriously”, did not submit a file before the Wednesday deadline. The club, with a new minority shareholder, Arctos Partners, ultimately decided not to submit a purchase offer to the Stade de France, this source explained to AFP, specifying that the managers “went to the end of this track[, which] was ultimately not the best option”.
From the start, this interest was seen by many observers as a way of putting pressure on the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party), to relaunch exchanges, currently non-existent, on the Parc des Princes.
Projects to develop the club
The takeover of the SDF was “not the right option for the club,” another source told AFP, but “this does not mean that [Anne] Hidalgo wins, quite the contrary: with Arctos, we have bigger and better projects if [Ms] Hidalgo still refuses to sell,” assured this source. Now that this track is no longer relevant, the club says it has other plans to continue to develop PSG.
Firstly, the prospect of the acquisition and renovation of the Parc des Princes, in “the sole hypothesis that the stadium is put up for sale”, affirms the source, according to which there was “still no discussion with the town hall and no progress” on this aspect. Another hypothesis would be the construction of a new stadium with 70,000 seats in Ile-de-France, for which several sites in the Paris region are currently being studied, according to the source close to the club.
Stade de France in search of a new concessionaire
Preparing for the Paris Olympic Games, the Stade de France is at the same time looking for its new concessionaire or owner. Wednesday is the deadline for application submissions.
The State, owner of this sports venue located in Saint-Denis, launched two procedures in parallel last March: that of a sale and that of the renewal of the concession. The current concession, granted in 1995 to the Vinci-Bouygues consortium (two-thirds-one-third), expires in June 2025.
The other suitors who have shown an interest in a buyout or a concession are discreet, apart from the Vinci-Bouygues consortium, which is a good candidate for the concession and the sale, according to several sources close to the matter. The other candidate would be the events company GL Events, chaired by Olivier Ginon, considered by some to be close to the Elysée.
