Brest new home venue price overshoot

Article posted by Coliseum, June 30^th, 2023

Image: Projet Espace Froutven & Groupe François de La Serre

Work on the new home of the Ligue 1 team Stade Brestois 29 in Brest (France) is expected to start in 2025 and is scheduled to be completed two years later. The price tag of the new 15,000-seat venue has surpassed the original budget and now stands at 106 million euros.

‘dayFREURO’ stated that the owners of the Ligue 1 team Stade Brestois 29 presented a new version of their stadium project recently, the price tag of which has soared to more than 106 million euros and which will have to be subsidized in part through taxpayers’ money.

Stade Brestois 29 or simply Brest is a French professional football club based in Brest, France. The club was founded in 1950 and plays in Ligue 1, the top of the French football league system.

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Stade Francis-Le Blé is a multiuse stadium in Brest, France. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Stade Brestois 29. The stadium can hold 15,931 spectators. The stadium has been named after Francis Le Blé, the former Mayor of Brest, who died in 1982.

The owner of Stade Brestois 29 Gérard Le Saint stated during a presser held recently, “Inflation has hit us hard and the price tag of the development has been now pegged at 106.5 million euros against 85 million euros a year ago. The huge rise in costs is due to the hefty price rise of raw materials and the surge in energy prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Taking these factors into consideration, we have reworked on the finances.”

Added Le Saint, “Everybody must pitch in speaking financially for the stadium project to come to fruition.”

‘dayFREURO’ further stated that the Brittany Region and the Department of Finistère have also been asked to put their weight behind the stadium project which is being planned on 17 hectares of agricultural land in Guipavas (commune in France) on the edge of the Brest urban area.

The Finistère is a French Department in Western Brittany. In the port City of Brest, the ancient Château de Brest is home to the National Maritime Museum. The Océanopolis Aquarium has sea otters and a penguin colony. The Tour Vauban, a 17^th century defensive tower, is perched on the coast in Camaret-sur-Mer. To the West of Finistère, the rugged cliffs of Pointe du Raz, also called ‘Land’s End’, overlook the Atlantic Ocean.

Denis Le Saint, brother of Gérard Le Saint, informed in the presser that works on the stadium project is expected to start in 2025 and will be completed by 2027. The capacity of Brest’s new home venue will almost remain the same as their current residence – Stade Francis-Le Blé. The present residence of Brest does not meet the professional football standards.

The Mayor of Brest, François Cuillandre, has ruled out renovation of Stade Francis-Le Blé which he said would be an “expensive exercise coming to circa 50 million euros. Once the Brest gets their new home up and running, we will demolish the Stade Francis-Le Blé and in its place will come up a residential area with verdant space.”

Founded in 1950, Stade Brestois 29 attained Ligue 1 status in 1979 but soon thereafter suffered several relegations and then again reached the top-of-the-heap in the year 2019. The club is struggling to remain in Ligue 1 in the recent seasons.

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