Stade de France concession: The Vinci-Bouygues consortium wants to go to court

After several months of discussions and hearings, with the services of Bercy in particular, the State, owner of the Stade de France, chose the Lyon events group GL Events last week, rejecting Vinci’s offer -Bouygues, current concessionaire. The final award should take place at the end of January.

“The consortium will take legal action“, in particular for unfair treatment between the candidates, a source close to the matter told AFP, without specifying either the timetable or the avenue of appeal. As the procedure relates to the public market, the body seized will probably be the court administrative.They are furious at Vinci and Bouygues“, a source close to the negotiations told AFP last week.

The consortium is two-thirds owned by Vinci and one-third by Bouygues. “The decision was taken in the midst of the motion of censure” against the government, noted a source close to the matter last week, believing that it was “‘a political decision“and putting forward”a proximity” from the GL Events group with Emmanuel Macron.

In 1995, the concession was granted for 30 years to the current consortium, hastily between the two rounds of the presidential election. The call for tenders for the renewal of the concession was launched in March 2023. A procedure for sale was launched at the same time but it was abandoned due to a lack of candidates. In addition to the Fin Infra services of the Ministry of the Economy, the file was studied by the interministerial delegation to major sporting events, and by the Minister of Sports in the Barnier government, Gil Avérous.

Negotiations must now also be held with the football and rugby federations which had presented their specifications to the two candidates but had not agreed with either of them. The specifications require that the stadium can accommodate the French football and rugby teams, who play some nine matches there per year, as well as “major international sporting events“. The new concession contract, granted for 30 years, must be signed in April 2025. The current concession ends at the beginning of August 2025.