The French Rugby Federation (FFR) is in an “extremely tense economic situation”. At the end of a general meeting organized at the National Rugby Center in Marcoussis (Essonne), Saturday December 16, the body announced that it was suffering an operating deficit of 40 million euros: “16 million euros for the 2022-23 season and a forecast deficit of 24 million euros for the 2023-24 season,” it said in a press release.
The result of a federation which “lives beyond its means” and which suffers from “one-off considerations, such as the non-accessibility of the Stade de France” due to the preparation of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, explained its president , Florian Grill, at Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Each match that is not played in the Dyonisian venue “causes us to lose two million euros in results,” he said. This season, the French XV will play its three duels in the Six Nations Tournament at home in Marseille, Lille and Lyon.
Added to this are also the losses of the economic interest group (EIG), an organization which marketed hospitality during the 2023 World Cup, of which the FFR holds 55%, and “which will lose at least 13 million euros”, according to Mr. Grill.
“Absolute priority” on the XV of France
Apart from these specific problems, “we have a deficit structure of around 15 million euros per year and we must fill this abysmal hole”, also regretted the president of the FFR, in office since June. To do this, the federation will try to attract new partners. It targets “between 8 and 10 million euros in savings per year”, recovered in particular from its operations.
These savings will not be to the detriment of the national selection, promised Florian Grill. “We keep absolute priority on the France team, because it represents 80% of our resources. » Still, assures the manager, that a certain moderation is possible, in the hotel industry or by favoring training courses in Marcoussis, “without distorting anything about sporting performance”.
If this financial general meeting of the FFR was “an essential truth operation”, it is no less “a cold shower”. “When we arrived, we were told of an operating deficit of around 9 million euros for the 2023-2024 season. The reality is 24 million,” summarizes its president.
The clubs blamed the blow “but they validated the budgetary landing which tells the truth of the accounts once we have lifted the carpet”, he adds. Before insisting that he was going to do everything not to “make the clubs pay for the financial mistakes of the federation”.
