A generous owner to replenish the coffers of OM, Frank McCourt does not lose the North with the finances of his club. The small arrangements around the Stade Vélodrome are largely profitable to him.
It’s been a busy week in Marseille, and not just because Adrien Rabiot has just signed. The regional audit office has in fact looked into a file that it will present to the city council on Friday and which raises many questions. It simply concerns the management of the Stade Vélodrome, which has cost the people of Marseille a fortune since its renovation in 2010, completed in 2014. At that time, Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin launched major works in preparation for Euro 2016. While architecturally it was a total success, financially it was a never-ending quagmire. The cost of the work was to be 270 million euros, and it will reach 457 million euros when the last loans are repaid… in 2045. Until then, it will cost Marseille taxpayers 10 million euros per year, even though this includes the amount of rent on which OM is doing very well.
A rent that is struggling to really increase
This Wednesday, La Provence looks at some particularities that make the rental and management of the stadium very advantageous for OM, to the detriment of the Phocaean city. The question of rent has of course been often raised, and it has gone from 5 million euros in 2020, to 6.5 million in 2023 then 8 million euros per year until 2026. In theory, since in 2022, the town hall made a discount of 1.5 million euros for work carried out by OM, even if this no longer seems to be the case now.
There are, however, a few peculiarities to this contract that allow Frank McCourt to rub his hands. Indeed, since 2019, it is OM via its company Mars360 that manages the Vélodrome, and the city has absolutely no idea of the profits generated by the shows, rugby matches, visits and concerts, and cannot recover a percentage of the revenues or index its rent on this copious income. However, it was stipulated in the contract that OM would pay back a share of the variable bonuses that could be received, but the lack of visibility and the amount of the bonus generating a possible payout are ” very difficult to reach” according to La Provence. The club can continue to inflate the turnover of its operating company without being worried.
Finally, the last point on which OM is doing very well, the Marseille club was simply able to play matches for free in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 while no agreement had been reached on the rent for the Vélodrome. The Provençal team benefited from an exemption, on 20 occasions, and the Marseille City Hall has for the moment “forgotten” to claim the fee owed by OM, which should have been paid before the use of the ground. The penalties for non-payment of this fee have also been put in the trash. So many frivolities pointed out by the regional audit office, but which clearly suggest that Frank McCourt is quite happy with the current contract. Moreover, La Provence points out that the American has absolutely no desire to buy the Stade Vélodrome which is for him at the moment ” a good deal “.
