Why French sport is on the brink

"The 2019-2020 professional sports season will not be able to resume (...) Major sporting events (...), all events that bring together more than 5,000 participants will not be able to be held before September" ... With these few sentences, Delivered last Tuesday in the National Assembly during his speech on the release from containment, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has showered hopes of a rapid resumption of the Ligue 1 (football) and Top 14 (rugby) championships. And forced the professional leagues, which manage the competitions, to whistle Thursday definitively the end of the season.

Even if the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, then clarified that meetings in camera (or with less than 5,000 spectators) could take place from August, it is almost six months that will stretch between the last Ligue 1 matches played, on March 8, and the first of the new season best scheduled from August 22. Six months of interruption, uncertainty and worry. Unheard of since World War II.

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When forced and forced to stop, like most other activities, sport as a whole has seen all of its competitions interrupted, postponed or canceled, one after the other, from the most minor to the most prestigious. 2020 promises to be the year of all challenges and emotions with this sumptuous quintuplet Roland-Garros, Euro football, F1 French Grand Prix, Tour de France cycling, Tokyo Olympics. Missed, the ball of postponements has continued to get carried away since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing athletes confined to engage body and soul in virtual sport, just to talk physically and not wasting away mentally.

In the end, this government decision to ban any resumption of professional championships in France before September is logical and sanitary justified. Difficult to imagine tight markings in the pants (football) and frenzied rucks (rugby) without risk of transmission of the virus for the actors. "It's a wise decision," said Jean-Pierre Rivière, president of OG Nice. "The government has understood that the economic emergency should not take precedence over the public health imperative," added Sylvain Kastendeuch, co-president of UNFP, the main union of professional football players.

The sacred PSG in videoconference

A "reasonable" decision, but one that turned all the scenarios imagined by the leaders of the two main collective sports in France upside down, after endless meetings by videoconference to prepare for the recovery and try to save what can be. Handball, basketball and volleyball, which were less exposed to the media and economically, were quick to cancel their end of the season. Since the announcement of Edouard Philippe, discussions on Zoom, Skype and other Teams have resumed better between leaders to try to reach agreement on the different organizational methods. How to define the final ranking? Should we attribute the title of champion (positive response for PSG, in football and hand)? Who should be awarded the tickets for the European cups and, much less pleasant, for the lower division? The thorny questions were not lacking, the proposals (more or less eccentric) followed one another and appeals are announced against the decisions taken (by Jean-Michel Aulas in particular), the interests of some not obviously being reconcilable with those others. All under strong economic pressure. Deprived of ticketing receipts, refreshments and other sponsorship, no less than 9 clubs out of the 14 boarders of the French rugby championship would be in great danger according to an audit by the League.

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Beyond rugby, the economic repercussions are likely to be bloody for all those involved in sport, whether professional or amateur (the latter being largely funded by the former). According to an estimate by the Ministry of Sports, the losses for the six major professional sports (football, rugby, cycling, handball, volleyball, basketball), following the non-resumption of the championships, should amount to 1.45 billion euros, including 1.16 billion for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football clubs alone. "Professional sport is now a disaster sector," warns a leader. And there is no shortage of questions for the future, whether near or far. When to start resuming training and scheduling the first matches? What developments will this pandemic bring about? Will sport business have to make its revolution? Will this crisis make it possible to lower the staggering salaries of certain players? Is the organization (and funding) of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games threatened? What to maintain the reflections during a whole summer without the slightest competition before relaunching (hopefully) with a crazy September (Tour de France, Roland-Garros, resumption of football, rugby, team sports, Formula 1, Solitaire du Figaro)…

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