New Mayor opening Parc des Princes talks

Image: Parc des Princes, Zakarie Faibis, CC BY-SA 4.0

The new Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire is looking to settle the future of Paris St Germain’s (PSG) Parc des Princes stadium before the end of the summer.

Franceinfo said Grégoire is proposing two options for the venue, either a long-term lease or a sale under certain conditions, with the hope of keeping the club at the stadium.

Faced with former mayor Anne Hidalgo’s refusal to sell the stadium, PSG had been considering leaving the French capital. But the new mayor is keen to keep the club in Paris.

Grégoire said, “We have agreed with the PSG shareholder that we want to conclude discussions by the end of the summer at the latest.”

Paris Saint Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain or simply PSG, is a French professional football club based in Paris (France). They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football.

With 52 major trophies won, PSG are the most decorated club in France and are generally considered the country’s biggest club and a leading force on the European stage.

The team plays at the 48,229-capacity Parc des Princes, an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France.

PSG do not own the Parc des Princes and pay €1.5 million a year in rent to the Paris City Hall.

The club Owners – Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) – wanted to undertake an expansion of the stadium that could have cost up to €370 million – but only if they could become the owners of the site.

Negotiations between the city, which owns the stadium, and the Parisian football club had stalled due to the refusal of former mayor Anne Hidalgo to sell it. Her former first deputy has a completely different opinion on the matter, however.

Grégoire intends to “quickly resume discussions” on this subject during the Paris Council meeting scheduled for mid-April.

Grégoire wants a mandate to restart negotiations with the Parisian club, as he points out that ultimately, it is the Paris Council that decides this.

In December, the then-first deputy mayor stated that he envisioned two options for the future of the Parc des Princes: A long-term lease agreement, noting “the reservations expressed by PSG’s shareholders regarding this possibility,” and a sale.

The new mayor of the capital reiterated his emotional attachment to PSG.

His primary wish is to see the club remain in Paris, while PSG’s Qatari owner, Nasser al-Khelaïfi, mentioned last year a possible move to Massy (Essonne) or Poissy (Yvelines), following Anne Hidalgo’s refusal to sell the venue.

However, according to Grégoire, “public funds should not be used to pay for a professional football stadium.”

He reiterated that if the sale were to go through, all of the proceeds would be allocated to the creation of new sports facilities, the maintenance of existing sports facilities, and the creation of green spaces.

With the failure of negotiations, the Paris mayor’s office and the club were clearly at odds.

Anne Hidalgo was not invited to the Parc des Princes for years.

President Nasser al-Khelaïfi sent a congratulatory message to Emmanuel Grégoire on his election and assured him that he would be invited to the Parc des Princes “very soon.”

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