The French government has entered into exclusive negotiations with GL Events for the operation of the Stade de France.
GL Events currently manages several venues in Paris and across France, and has been selected ahead of a proposal from construction firms Vinci and Bouygues.
Vinci and Bouygues have managed the Stade de France since 1995 through an agreement with the French government, which owns the stadium. The contract is set to end on July 1, 2025, and in March 2023 the government initiated a process for a new contract.
French newspaper L’Équipe reported that GL Events has entered into discussions with the French government to assume management of the Stade de France from August 2025 as part of a 30-year deal. GL Events has now confirmed that it has entered into an exclusive phase of negotiations.
In a statement, GL Events said: “While this constitutes a decisive step, it does not indicate that the group has been awarded the contract. The final decision will be made only after the end of this key negotiation phase expected to be completed by the end of January 2025.”
It is said that GL Events is targeting a €100m (£83m/$105m) renovation of the stadium. The Vinci-Bouygues proposal called for more than €400m in improvements 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).
Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain has previously been linked to a bid for the stadium amid uncertainty over its future at the Parc des Princes. However, it emerged at the start of the year that PSG would not be pursuing a bid and would turn its attention to renovating the Parc des Princes or building a new stadium.
FIFA, football’s global governing body, has also been linked with a bid for the stadium but the only concrete proposals put forward were from GL Events and the Vinci-Bouygues consortium.
The Stade de France has a capacity of 77,000 and opened ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. The stadium primarily serves as the home of France’s football and rugby union teams, and was also used to host athletics and the closing ceremony at this year’s Olympic Games.
