A question that can legitimately be asked when reading social networks. Several messages from fans have been broadcast like bottles in the sea to offer other fans to raise money to get the club out of this bad patch!
Crowdfunding a solution for the Girondins de Bordeaux?
But as the economic world with the scapular clubthe Girondins label, the call also launched to the world of wine or with the campaign all united of the CCI Bordeaux Gironde, if the goodwill and the energy are there, the euros do not arrive. In this situation, could a crowdfunding campaign save the club? And in this type of operation what about the governance of the club afterwards? Hubert Tuillier who is Manager Manager Sports Advisory at KPMG and Thomas Guillochon Development Director of the Bordeaux company Hello Asso kindly agreed to discuss this issue.
Hubert Tuillier: Football clubs have a very strong desire to include fans in their development strategy and in decision-making. We saw it in Saint-Etienne where the question of the logo was a real success. In fact, when talking about crowdfunding, you have to manage to put the ingredients in place to arrive at a virtuous circle that allows all the stakeholders to be respected. There is a real need in France to change mentalities a little, to also professionalise the marketing and finance teams so that they can better master these tools. What must be remembered is rather the question of respect for supporters, respect for the history of the club, respect for local authorities and the establishment of a virtuous circle. What I am trying to convey as a message is that today the club which will have a strategy, called “fan centric”, will be a club whose financial results will be more sustainable.
Thomas Guillochon: In the end, the biggest community of a club, as soon as you leave the team, are its supporters and they also seek other means than buying tickets, than buying merchandising , to be able to engage. The fact of setting up a strategy on which we would be able today to invite all the publics associated with the Girondin club, to be able to commit would indeed be a real opportunity to find other forms of financing. I watch every day what is happening on social networks, how the different groups of supporters are mobilizing today alongside the club, and we are witnessing at Hello Asso clubs of supporters who create measures in favor of their club to find additional funding. So it has already happened. Afterwards, is that enough to collect 20 million euros? I do not believe.
Hubert Tuillier: In the context that you mention of the Girondins de Bordeaux supporters, it also seems to me, personally, complicated to set up. On the other hand, it can come in addition to a larger investor who would like to have extremely strong local support like in Bastia for example. Bastia is a club that has filed for bankruptcy and is now restructured in a slightly different format: a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC) which makes it possible to bring together within its capital all the parties concerned by the life of a club, whether they are companies, investors, supporters or even communities which, moreover, often own the equipment. So it is this type of new legal structure that now exists in France, which may also be worth looking at.
Thomas Guillochon: With this logic of changing the model and leaving the traditional company, the SAS, for a cooperative model is finally there a real tool to bring all the stakeholders of a club around the table. The example of Bastia is quite simply a new paradigm where in fact, within the club’s bodies, you will find companies, communities, supporters, potentially team players, etc. It also means allowing ourselves to reinvent models and I want to believe that it is also in a crisis situation that we will be able to innovate and that innovation is also ultimately in the construction of a structure. And there, the example of Bastia is a very good example. Maybe soon, in a while, well each of us will be in some way in the cooperative of the Girondins de Bordeaux.
You can also listen to our 100% Girondins devoted to the economy of professional football with Vincent Chaudel from the sports business observatory or with Loic Ravenel, Scientific Advisor of the International Center for Sports Studies