“unprecedented”, “alternative to PSG” model… We were at the free Paris FC match against Bastia

It was a world first for an entire season, so it had to be announced with great fanfare. Saturday November 11, Paris FC hosted Bastia for the first match of its “open house operation”. The Ligue 2 club has indeed decided to make ticketing at its Charléty stadium free. “Purchasing power in France is very damagedjustified President Pierre Ferracci in an interview for So Foot. Dgiving a strong sign as we do is going in the right direction.” The offer also applies to the women’s team, third in the last D1 Arkéma, but cannot be transposed to its Champions League matches.

Saturday evening, the initiative was emulated in front of the walls of the 13th arrondissement of the capital. “It’s a good thing, there is clearly a niche for Paris FC to take behind PSG, which is much more expensive”, breathes Jean, in his fifties, on the stadium square. Stabilized in the second division since 2017, the PFC is struggling to escape and is evolving in the shadow of its bulky neighbor. “Paris FC has a real reputation problem, it’s a way to create a base of supporters”indicates Jean-Pascal Gayant, sports economist.

Over the entire 2022-23 season, the club attracted an average of 4,030 spectators out of the 20,000 seats available. Open to the four winds and often criticized for an athletics track that distances its spans from the field, the Charléty stadium can nevertheless attract five times as many. With 21% occupancy, Paris FC had by far the worst rate in the division last year.

There were 6,438 on Saturday evening, including 1,100 Bastia supporters gathered in a dedicated parking lot. The stadium still sounded hollow, which did not prevent a few disappointed people from not having a ticket. Flavien and Alexandre, two Bretons in their twenties, imagined getting their ticket directly to the stadium for what they consider to be “an alternative to PSG”. Alas, the club had indicated, two days earlier, that the gauge set for this match had been reached thanks to online reservations and that the tickets would no longer be issued. “We can adapt our devicerecalls Ferracci. This gauge is not the same when we host Saint-Etienne or Rodez, for example.”

1.5 million revenue expected

Presented as a way of reducing security costs for less important posters, this gauge allowed the club to present the operation as a “big success” arising from a “unprecedented craze”. But Paris FC, unaccustomed to receiving such a “massive” audience, experienced some hiccups in its organization. So much so that at kick-off, several hundred people with tickets were still waiting to enter the enclosure. “When we host a small team like Dunkerque in the middle of winter, it’s okay, but when there are people…”plague Valentin, in his thirties.

We saw the voluminous beard of this subscriber – compensated in proportion to the matches that “became” free – passing the gates around the 15th minute. Even without tickets, Rennais Flavien and Alexandre took advantage of the generosity of security to enter the stadium. “The PFC is a victim of its successthe first said a few minutes earlier. But I think many people booked several tickets online and didn’t come. By putting them at a symbolic euro, we would perhaps avoid this.”

“The free signal creates a fundamental psychological differenceindicates Jean-Pascal Gayant, sports economist. The local context is important: we will capture people who love football in the Paris region but feel excluded by the bling-bling policy of PSG.” In the past, Paris FC did not hesitate to sell off its tickets, often sold for around 10 euros.

The battle for TV rights in the background

“And this money that I don’t pay at the ticket office, I could put back into a drink and a sandwich”, says Mathieu, an occasional spectator. In this logic, President Ferracci hopes to make up the million shortfall by receiving “1.5 million additional revenues”, including for example the refreshment bar or the sale of jerseys. Above all, the image of a better-filled stadium will necessarily benefit Paris FC, whose base of supporters is currently confidential.

For Jean-Pascal Gayant, this initiative responds to a diagnosis established when the matches were played without an audience, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We realized that the presence of demonstrative supporters was part of the value of the show. For the value of the TV rights, it is better than not having spectators.”

Jean-Pascal Gayant, sports economist

at franceinfo: sport

Ligue 2 broadcasting rights, currently being renegotiated, constitute a significant part of a club’s budget (40%), much more than ticketing revenue (7%). A visual impression of a full stadium could help to see them rise again.

“I think that the initiative will be emulated in France and in Europe”, believes Jean-Pascal Gayant. This was, for example, partially implemented by Fortuna Düsseldorf, a club in the German second division. In more impressive proportions, since the 52,000 seats of the Merkur Spiel Arena were packed against Kaiserslautern at the end of October. “I don’t expect an extraordinary turnout in the immediate future.admits Pierre Ferracci to So Foot. Filling Charléty also refers to our performances.”

Despite its victory against Bastia (1-0) to continue its positive series (three wins and a draw), the PFC occupies an anonymous twelfth place in L2, seven points behind the first play-off. Its poor record at home last year (15th) did not help to retain a public which could turn to another Ile-de-France club, Red Star, based in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis) and large leader from National. With a warm atmosphere in a changing stadium, the Audonian club could impose “competition for market share in Ligue 2”believes Jean-Pascal Gayant.