Features

OL Groupe forms music events arm

OL Groupe, which manages French Ligue 1 football club Olympique Lyonnais, has partnered with Olympia Production to launch a new music festival at Groupama Stadium.

The festival, which has been dubbed ‘Felyn’, will debut on June 19-20, 2020 at Groupama Stadium, with the line-up to be announced by the of the year. Olympia Production is a subsidiary of French media company Vivendi and organises festivals such as Garorock, Les Déferlantes, Live au Campo and Brive.

As part of the agreement, a new venture called OL Production has been formed to organise and manage the festival.

Groupama Stadium opened in January 2016 and hosted a number of matches during that year’s European Championships, as well as the 2018 Europa League final. It will also host the semi-finals and final of the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Earlier this year, Lyon owner and chairman Jean-Michel Aulas revealed that the club is planning on developing a new arena near Groupama Stadium. The venue would accommodate 10,000 to 15,000 people and form part of Lyon’s OL City venture.

On Saturday, Lyon revealed more details on its OL City project and stated that the new arena should open by 2023 or 2024. Lyon will own 100 per cent of the arena and will oversee the operation of the venue.

The news coincided with the announcement that Lyon has taken a stake in the city’s basketball club, ASVEL Basket.

Under the agreement, ASVEL will continue to play matches at the Astroballe arena until the new OL City venue opens. Thereafter, the team will play major EuroLeague matches at the new arena while continuing to use the Astroballe as its regular home. ASVEL will be the only French team competing in the EuroLeague next year.

Image: Groupama Stadium