If one needed an image to understand all the disarray in which professional sport finds itself, this would be it.
Boxers Tony Yoka and Johann Duhaupas will fight this Friday evening at Paris-La Défense Arena in front of 5,000 spectators.
The next day, barely 12 hours later, at the same place, only a thousand spectators will be allowed through the doors of the ultra-modern hall of Nanterre to attend the semi-final of the European Cup between Racing 92 and the reigning triple European champion, the English club Saracens.
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In the meantime, the ministerial decree reducing the tonnage to 1,000 people for all public gatherings will have entered into force.
And it is all professional sport that once again puts one knee to the ground after having glimpsed the exit of the tunnel following the confinement and the abrupt end of all the championships in the spring.
The sword of Damocles that was already in the limit to 5,000 spectators is becoming even more threatening as the gauge drops.
The time seems far away when the clubs requested exemptions at the end of the summer to welcome the public beyond the official limitation, taking advantage of a reduced circulation of the virus in certain regions of France.
The map of France of the Covid-19 epidemic unveiled Wednesday evening by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran leaves little hope for short-term change, especially in the big cities which are also those which are home to the big teams.
Paris-La Défense Arena has already lost 28 million euros since March
In this context, the Racing 92 club, resident of the Top 14, the elite of French rugby, made its calculations.
In the 5,000 supporters configuration, the gauge established for all sports before the summer, the Ile-de-France team lost 90,000 euros per game.
Sharp losses which climb to 120,000 euros with 1,000 spectators in the stands.
"For a closed door, it's 170,000 euros," laments Bathilde Lorenzetti, vice-president of the Arena who has already lost 28 million euros since March.
For the poster for this Saturday, a gala match as there are a handful each season, the shortfall is colossal without forgetting that the matter turns into a puzzle.
“We had sold the 5,000 tickets.
By changing the rules the day before the game, how are we going to sort it out?
Who should come, not to come among the supporters who bought their places?
“, Wonders Bathilde Lorenzetti, whose teams are working precisely on this point, pending the publication of the government decree.
Professional sport may turn the problem all over the place, it can only ask the State to try to compensate for its operating losses.
If football can count on its generous TV rights to cushion the fall in revenue, other disciplines such as handball, basketball and rugby are very dependent on ticketing revenue.
“Let them explain to us how we can impose on our room a capacity of 1000 people in a discretionary manner while it operates with the sanitary standards worthy of an operating theater.
For us, this is too much.
It is disproportionate and unfair, ”laments the vice-president of the Arena de Nanterre, who does not rule out bringing the case to justice.
