Like a sea serpent from Iroise. On Wednesday March 30, the leaders of Stade Brestois officially presented the project for a new enclosure. Announced for the first time in 2018, the stadium should see the light of day in 2026. In addition to its atypical architecture, in the shape of a boat’s hull, the enclosure stands out against the gigantism of the new stadiums in Le Havre or Le Mans built in the last decade.
The idea is to maintain a capacity of 15,000 seats, as at Francis-Le Blé, which is rather low for a new stadium. “It’s a reasonable project, not one of those half-empty stadiums“, greeted the socialist president of Brest metropolis, François Cuillandre, at a press conference.
The story is shared by Denis Le Saint, one of the club’s two co-president brothers: “We have checked, there will be enough places for it to be 95% full in L1 and 75% in L2“. This season, Brest has an occupancy rate of 76% in the top flight, with an average of 11,300 spectators (dtwo matches played at reduced capacity with 5,000 spectators were not counted). In other words, the objective is to acquire a more modern enclosure – photovoltaic panels and wind turbines are planned in particular – without increasing its capacity.
Does this mean that this model will become established in France on a long-term basis? It contrasts in any case drastically with the pharaonic projects that came out of the ground at the turn of the 2010s. “After the 2008 Besson report, the LFP wanted modern and functional stadiums, point Jean-Pascal Gayant, professor of economics at the University of Le Mans. A ‘club license’ scheme awarded points according to certain infrastructure-related criteria, to reap a better share of TV rights. The choices were then ambitious and not necessarily economical.“
Large stadiums then emerged in Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux and Nice. But these projects, carried by cities of more than one million inhabitants, were part of the logic of organizing Euro 2016. Other more modest urban areas, such as Le Mans, Le Havre and Valenciennes, have had bigger eyes than stomach by equipping itself with 25,000-seat showcases.
Financially, even the largest communities take the hit. These stadiums have, for the most part, been financed via “public-private partnerships” (PPP). In Lille, for example, the local authorities assumed 44% of the costs, against 56% for the subsidiary of Eiffage. In exchange, the latter owns the stadium for 31 years and therefore receives rent of several million euros. In the short term, communities were able to present a brand new stadium at a lower cost. In the long term, however, the financial hole is huge. The Bordeaux citizens’ association TransCub has estimated that the stadium would cost taxpayers 551 million euros against 175 announced at the time of obtaining the contract.
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In Valenciennes, Le Mans and Le Havre, the result of these projects is starving, even for the private partners – Eiffage has not, since 2016, launched a sixth PPP concerning the construction of a stadium. Since its construction in 2012, HAC’s Stade Océane has welcomed an average of 8,000 spectators per year in Ligue 2. It’s barely better for the Stade du Hainaut – 9,000 despite three seasons in Ligue 1 – and especially much worse for the MMA rena du Mans.
Imagined when the ex-MUC 72 was installed in Ligue 1, the Le Mans enclosure is the emblematic example of this excess. Mined by the repeated descents of Le Mans FC, the stadium welcomes this year less than 4,000 spectators on average in National. Even in Ligue 2, shortly after its inauguration, more than half of the seats remained empty.
“It would have been more reasonable to make an 18,000-seat stadium at Le Mans. These stadiums must be designed for Ligue 2, plus a few good years in Ligue 1, like for Brest.”
Jean-Pascal Gayant, economist at the University of Le Mansat franceinfo: sport
In anticipation of the transition from the elite to 18 clubs, for the 2023-2024 season, Finistère leaders are aware of this limit. “We are ambitious, but reasonable. Our place is between 10th in L1 and 10th in L2″confirmed co-president Gérard Le Saint during the presentation of the stadium. With 320,000 inhabitants, the urban area of Brest is comparable to Valenciennes, Le Havre and Le Mans.
“Metropolises know that to survive, they need TV rights and raking the surrounding economic fabric, adds Jean-Michel Roux, urban planning teacher at the University of Grenoble-Alpes. No longer having a stadium that is too big has become essential.“ Hence the idea of giving 3,200 seats out of the 15,000 in total. “It’s a ‘business’ approach, not a ‘public’ one”, continues the town planner. Faced with filling problems at its Auguste-Delaune stadium, the Stade de Reims has also explored the possibility of reducing commercial capacity to favor the boxes. Two years later, the project remains at a standstill.
“Brest does not have very big sponsors or patrons. But the territory of Finistère supports them, and many SMEs want places. These people run the shop.”
Jean-Michel Roux, professor of town planning at the University of Grenoble-Alpes.at franceinfo: sport
This season, Brest has experimented a new ticketing system far from unanimous among supporters. For each match at Francis-le-Blé, the first tickets are marketed at very high prices, before seeing their price decrease as the match approaches. The idea of play on demand will undeniably be reinforced by the new den. Jean-Michel Roux sees, in this strategy of “create scarcity“, an influence of the Stade La Rochelais model. The 16,000 seats at the Marcel-Deflandre stadium systematically find takers, so much so that there is a waiting list to attend Top 14 matches.
From 2011, Juventus Turin also opted for a new 41,000-seat stadium, when its former Stadio delle Alpi had nearly 70,000 seats. “But ticketing and hospitality receipts have increasednotes the economist Jean-Pascal Gayant. It is counter-intuitive, but there is not always a positive link between stadium size and economic benefits.“ In some major French cities, the Turin model is following its course.
The cases of Bordeaux and Nice, where the large stadiums that are rarely filled represent financial pitfalls for the public authorities, put off more than one. In Montpellier, the new setting – financed by private funds – will have 24,000 seats, or 8,000 less than a stadium in La Mosson with its dilapidated and sparse stands. With an urban area twice as populated as the city of Finistère, the risks seem minimal. “Anyway, everyone will be watching Brest’s new stadium with great interest. There is an innovative side!“, concludes Jean-Pascal Gayant.