The leaders of the Pro D2 club, currently 15th in Pro D2 and therefore a barrier, are ready to sell the club with immediate effect.
:quality(50)/2023/07/07/64a7df4c5fe71_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Update
Reading time: 2 min
:quality(50)/2023/08/16/64dce5ff300da_maxsportsfrtwo692507.jpg)
Biarritz Olympique, Pro D2 rugby club, is for sale. Jean-Baptiste Aldigé, president of Biarritz Olympique, will leave the club, as will Louis-Vincent Gave and the club is looking for a buyer, France Bleu Pays Basque learned on Wednesday February 28 from a source close to the matter, confirming information from the newspaper South West.
Jean-Baptiste Aldigé and Louis-Vincent Gave, at the helm of the club for six years, announced it to the mayor of Biarritz. They are ready to sell the club with immediate effect for a symbolic euro. Biarritz Olympique is currently 15th in Pro D2 and therefore play-off. At issue: the failure of the project for a new San Sebastian stadium in Anoeta near the Reale Arena. The club’s leaders were ready to inject 15 million euros into it. But in mid-January, a meeting at the Biarritz town hall buried the stillborn project.
A buyer or the club placed in compulsory liquidation
Jean-Baptiste Aldigé and Louis Vincent Gave own 95% of the club, they decided to stop the costs and informed the mayor of Biarritz, Maider Arosteguy, that they were going to leave and no longer wanted to put any money into the club. The mayor and her teamwill never let the BO die“, affirms the municipality to France Bleu Pays Basque. Contacted, Jean-Baptiste Aldigé did not wish to respond to France Bleu Pays Basque. The duo took over the club from the brink of bankruptcy in 2018, with the cornerstone of the renovation of the Aguilera plateau. Several plans were considered to get the club back on track economically, but they never came to fruition.
The city finally backtracked on the renovation of the stadium in 2021, refusing to inject 15 million euros. Management therefore remained in place, adding three million euros to the BOPB last summer. She made a last minute recruitment to play this 2023-24 season. But without a viable economic model, management therefore decided to get rid of Biarritz Olympique. Two possibilities now present themselves to the club: either a buyer comes forward, or the club is placed in compulsory liquidation.
The mayor of Biarritz also invites “all lovers of the club and rugby to get together behind the team during the next match Friday against Vannes“, she tells France Bleu Pays Basque.