New appeal filed in Stade de France saga

Article posted by Coliseum, May 27^th, 2025

Image: Coliseum GSVA

The outgoing management of the Stade de France have launched a new appeal over the French government’s decision to award a new contract for the job to GL Events.

Earlier this month after two years of proceedings, the French government awarded GL Events the management of the stadium located in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, for the next 30 years.

BFM TV said the Vinci-Bouygues consortium, which lost the Stade de France concession to GL Events, has now filed a new administrative appeal.

The current concession holder, Vinci-Bouygues, has decided to challenge the award before the Montreuil Administrative Court (Seine-Saint-Denis), according to a source close to the case.

It had already filed an appeal, which was rejected by the same court and then by the Council of State.

The Stade de France is the national stadium of France located just North of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis.

Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the largest stadium in France. The stadium is used by the French national football and rugby union teams for international competitions.

Construction firms Vinci and Bouygues currently hold the concession to manage and operate the Stade de France until August this year, but the consortium was excluded from renewing the deal, despite submitting a proposal.

The proposal drawn up by Vinci-Bouygues envisaged €400 million in upgrades as part of a project that would have created a joint company featuring representatives from the French Football Federation (FFF) and the French Rugby Federation (FFR). GL Events offered around €120 million.

GL Events, a global company that provides event services including event organization, venue management and event strategies, said it hopes “that the outgoing concession holder accepts” the decision.

The concession contract has not yet been signed, however, and GL Events is eager to move in, even though the current concession expires on August 4^th, and the entire process has dragged on.

Two concerts by the hard rock band AC/DC are scheduled for August 9^th and 13^th.

Christophe Cizeron, Managing Director of GL Events’ venues division, said, “The challenge at some point is for the outgoing concession holder to accept, for us to move on.”

“The State has made a choice. We hope there won’t be yet another appeal,” he added, specifying that GL Events had been notified of the award on May 7.

“The contract should be signed within about ten days. There is still a deadline for appeal (by the current concessionaire),” he added.

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