Astroballe retains the majority of Asvel matches and prepares for the arrival of other sports

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Despite the construction of the new OL Arena, Asvel will continue to play in its historic hall.

A new agreement was signed on Friday February 24 between the Villeurbannais club, owned by Tony Parker, and the municipality for the operation of the Astroballe over the next four years.

The latter will host all the club's home league matches as well as a quarter of the EuroLeague matches.

"The EuroLeague recommending that clubs have a hall with a capacity of 10,000 seats, LDLC ASVEL will play part of its European matches at the Arena of Décines", specified

the municipality.

The construction of this room, wanted by Tony Parker and for which he approached Olympique Lyonnais, a 33% shareholder in the club, will come out of the ground at the end of 2023 with 12,000 places in basketball configuration.

With the vocation of also hosting concerts and other cultural events.

Work to attract new tenants

After the club's colors and logo were changed by the former Spurs number 9, who reportedly intends to sell his shares, the announcement of the move was very badly received by the city and the supporters in 2019. The mayor at the time, Jean-Paul Bret (PS) had deplored this choice while a Villeurbannaise Arena was under discussion.

His successor, Cédric Van Styvendael (PS), welcomes an ultimately less categorical outcome.

, rejoices the city.

For a fixed annual rent of 129,490 euros excluding taxes and a variable part depending on the economic result of the club.

Read alsoBasketball: how Tony Parker's Asvel conquered France ... and is attacking Europe

A house which will nevertheless be able to accommodate other tenants during the absence of its historical resident.

The mayor thus announces to Le

the conduct of a study over the next two years with a view to work to make it more versatile.

With the idea of ​​eventually hosting women's basketball, handball and even tennis matches.

It is with this in mind that the municipality will invest an additional 1.8 million euros by the end of the mandate, in addition to the 800,000 already committed since 2020. On the program the creation of lodges, retractable stands and the preparation of the works modernization of changing rooms, particularly over the next two years.