Mayor of Dijon and great sports fan. Thursday, November 3, 2022, the one who is also president of the Metropolis, François Rebsamen, was the guest of 100% Sports
on France Blue Burgundy. After analyzing DFCO’s poor run in Ligue 2 – “It’s a disaster, it’s even a shame”
– François Rebsamen returned to the sports projects in progress in Dijon. In the budget 2022
, nearly 6.5 million euros are devoted to “various investments in sports heritage”. On the menu: the project for the new hall for the JDA, the renovation of existing infrastructures such as Bourillot or the Trimolet ice rink, but also the reception of a delegation for the 2024 Olympic Games and a candidacy for the Tour de France.
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Football – The land annexed to the Sports Park, “no time to launch a new call for tenders”
Inside the Dijon Sports Park, opposite the Gaston-Gérard Stadium, an adjoining plot has been started, but not finished. It was to host the women’s matches and the DFCO training, but does not have, for the moment, a stand. “It’s shifted, the call for tenders has been declared unsuccessful. The work will be shifted for this new stand”, announced
on France Bleu President Olivier Delcourt in January 2022.
Ten months later, the situation does not seem to have changed. “The additional costs were too high. We decided, by mutual agreement with the president of the DFCO, Olivier Delcourt, that the women could play, if there are exceptional matches, at Gaston-Gérard. And if not, since everything is set up there, on the grounds of Saint-Apollinaire”indicates this Thursday François Rebsamen.
A blocked situation, which is not likely to settle in the months to come. “The tenders must be even worse than before, the proof there is such a significant drift on the nautical base. It seems that it is the war in Ukraine which is responsible for everything, but what I I know is that prices are exploding at the moment. This is certainly not the time to launch a new call for tenders. We will relaunch it when the time comes”, says the mayor. He also said he was in favor of a 1,000-seat grandstand: “There were debates on the size of the stand, I don’t want us to do unreasonable things. 1000 seats are fine with me. If there are people, there is a stadium next door”.
This is surely not the time to launch a new call for tenders. We will relaunch it when the time comes – François Rebsamen
Football – No renovation of the Doras stand at the Stade Gaston-Gérard
Since 2007,
the Gaston-Gérard Stadium has had a facelift. Three out of four stands have undergone renovation and/or construction work. which is not the case for the fourth, the West Stand (Doras) … and it is not on the agenda.
“The club must already go back to Ligue 1. For the moment it is not worth investing. First of all, there is no need for it, there are not enough spectators, tempers François Rebsamen. The stadium was well designed by Olivier Delcourt, with the services of the Métropole, so that it would be profitable. There was a very good occupancy rate when we were in Ligue 1, but there frankly, there are fewer and fewer people… Dijon, there are a lot of spectators, but when you win”.
JDA Dijon: “we are even discussing the possible sale of the Sports Palace”
Today, the Palais des sports Jean-Michel-Geoffroy is shared between three professional teams. The JDA Dijon Basket, the JDA Dijon Handball and the DMH. Before the Covid-19 crisis, the project a room for the JDA
was launched, on a 33,000 m2 site located near the Toison d’Or. This project is currently suspended. At the same time, Works
worth 700,000 euros, were made at the Palais des sports.
So is this new room no longer relevant at all? “Currently not, answers François Rebsamen. I will see Thierry Degorce again (the president of the JDA, Editor’s note), we are discussing it, we are even discussing the possible sale of the Palais des Sports. Still it is necessary that we can, with the sale of the Palace, rebuild a gymnasium which is up to the expectations of a city like Dijon”.
About the future of the project, François Rebsamen continues: “You have to ask President Thierry Degorce. I met him several times, he knew the conditions for participation of the city. I remind you, the subsidy provided by the Métropole to the JDA is more important than that which football. Because the JDA does not pay the right to occupy the Palais des sports, and yet it occupies it and it should pay it. So we are going to spare it for the moment – and we will have to it settles it at some point, the Regional Chamber of Accounts often reminds us of this – while the DFCO pays for the occupation of the Gaston-Gérard stadium”.
And to conclude: “They have good results, they have an audience. We have redone the interior of the Sports Palace, it is very beautiful, formidable, we have redone the ventilation, the floors, there is more than 700,000 euros. It is also used for handball, life together is complicated, the basements are occupied by gymnasts, etc… there is a very high occupancy rate, but everything is done for free, the city finances everything that, I remember”.
Rugby- No renovation yet for Stade Bourillot, where Stade Dijonnais plays
In François Rebsamen’s program for the 2020 municipal elections, “Dijon is Capital”
we could read in point n°77: “Renovate the Bourillot stadium”. Bourillot, the enclosure that hosts Stade Dijonnais rugby matches. The renovation will not be immediate.
“We will do what is necessary, even if we have already made a lot of investments in Bourillot, says François Rebsamen. The club was ready to do so too. But it’s the same, in National 2 today (the 4th division), we’re not going to say “we’re going to build a stadium”, even if there is a rugby audience in Dijon, it’s a city of rugby. Unfortunately, the project for this stadium fell through at that time”.
The renovation of the Trimolet ice rink: “renovating it to make it less energy-intensive”
Still reading the program “Dijon is Capital”
at point 80: “Finalize the renovation and modernization of the ice rink during the mandate”. Asked about the subject, François Rebsamen evokes a change of context : “We will surely review things. The budget for the city of Dijon in 2023, which I am preparing at the moment, will be tight because of the energy constraint. The cost, rounding off, will increase from 10 to 20 million euros They will be missed, and we have to readjust our projects according to the evolution of things”.
“There will be renovations, of course, continues the chosen one. The idea would be to renovate the rink even more, to make it less energy-intensive, because that’s the problem today. She is 50 years old this year, but well maintained, she holds. We have lots of projects, but we can’t do everything, we try to spread out according to the budgetary capacities and the uncertainties in front of us, we have to spread out a certain number of expenses that we had planned to do more quickly”.
Dijon “Terres de Jeux” for the 2024 Olympics: “we have contacts” to welcome delegations
The Côte-d’Or, like the city of Dijon, are labeled
“Terres de Jeux 2024”, with a view to the next Olympic Games, in Paris. In this context, Dijon, “olympic preparation center”
, can accommodate delegations of athletes. And it will probably be the case.
“We have contacts, I can’t reveal them yet, announces François Rebsamen. We are working on it, we have proposals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. These are countries that ask us if we would agree, we will examine all that. We will have the answer in the coming months.”
Cycling – The Tour de France soon in Dijon?
This is a time that those under 25 cannot know. The last passage of the Tour de France in Dijon dates back to 1997. On France Bleu Bourgogne, François Rebsamen says he is in favor of a passage of the Grande Boucle in Dijon and would like to see things big: “If it’s just a finish it’s too expensive for what it is. We need a finish and start, and maybe even a stage, as there has been in the past, a time trial. show”. In terms of finances, organize an arrival would cost
to the city about 65,000 euros, a departure about 110,000 euros, and about 160,000 to organize the arrival AND the departure.
Behind the scenes, negotiations are taking place, confirms the mayor : Nathalie Koenders (first assistant, Editor’s note) will meet Christian Prudhomme (Director of the Tour, editor’s note). We have already made requests, we have to show our desire. In cycling, as in all sports, you have to show desire”. According to him, Dijon had not applied for the Tour 2023, 110th edition
who avoids Burgundy. “We had taken rank, we knew that we would not be selected, but with the boss of the Tour de France, you have to show desire, repeat your desire, summarizes the mayor of Dijon. In short, everything that DFCO players lack today.