Empty stadiums, TV rights at half mast, pandemic, French football clubs are enduring the crisis with full force.
OL too.
Lyon suffered a net loss of 50.6 million euros over the last six months of 2020. In particular, revenues from ticketing and TV rights in free fall.
This will not get better during the first half of 2021. However, Lyon does not want to postpone or stop its future projects.
Less dependent on TV rights than almost all elite clubs (apart from PSG), OL has been able to diversify and create other sources of income around the heart of its football activity.
“The Olympique Lyonnais model is based on several pillars, including resilience and an extremely rapid capacity to adapt,” underlines OL director general Thierry Sauvage.
If the effect of the pandemic is very strong on ticketing and seminars, conversely, partnerships, player trading and brand products are showing strong signs of resistance.
Our developments and projects launched before the pandemic are maintained.
To rebuild the aftermath, they must be accompanied by the ambition to be able to recreate an economic and social dynamic capable of generating employment, of proposing new cultural, sports and leisure offers which make it possible to forge social links.
"
OL will continue to invest (almost) as if nothing had happened.
In particular, by continuing to develop “OL Vallée” around the Groupama Stadium in Décines-Charpieu, approximately 15 km east of Lyon.
“OL Vallée”, what is it?
Next to the stadium owned by OL, a veritable "city within the city" is developing.
So far it was a bit dead, there was only the stadium.
Soon, the site will become a real place of life.
From 8 a.m. to midnight.
With a leisure center, a tennis academy and an arena with 16,000 seats.
The Arena is scheduled to open at the end of 2023: it will have 16,000 seats to host between 80 and 120 events per year (concerts, seminars, basketball matches, e-sport event).
Populous
"Our model is based on strong fundamentals around men's and women's football, whether in Lyon, but also in Seattle with OL Reign," continues Thierry Sauvage.
We are building synergies with Asvel
(Editor's note: OL took a 30% stake in the capital)
, e-sport, futsal, which will be found in the Arena, tennis with the future All in .
We have chosen to have complementary and transversal medium and long-term approaches, with a thought that is not linear, but rather multidimensional, in canvas, always in motion.
We also think of this transversality with the arrival of the leisure center which will operate in symbiosis with the Groupama Stadium all year round.
"
A tennis academy
At the end of February 2021, a vast leisure center will open: a set of 17 brands (bowling, City Surf Park, indoor football complex, padel and badminton, virtual reality experience, etc.).
Its opening is scheduled for late February, early March 2021 and will have 17 stores.
Vinci
In September 2022, a huge tennis complex is due to emerge.
A tennis academy created by Thierry Ascione and supported by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with in particular 22 hard and clay tennis courts, 1 central court with 1,500 seats, 4 indoor padel courts and a semi-Olympic outdoor swimming pool.
Scheduled for September 2022, the tennis academy will have, among other things, 22 tennis courts, a central court with 1,500 seats… A project created by Thierry Ascione and supported by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
OL
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Above all, OL intends to invest 140 million euros for the construction and construction of an Arena with 16,000 seats, the commissioning of which is expected at the end of 2023. A 100% private, 100% OL project.
Between 80 and 120 events per year are planned in a modular hall with 6,000 to 16,000 seats (concerts, seminars, basketball matches, e-sport events).
The Arena should host around ten Asvel Euroleague matches per year, which will allow the Villeurbanne club to obtain its permanent member ticket for ten years.
With the prospect, also, of hosting in the future a major ATP tennis tournament, the World Championships in basketball, handball, and the Olympic Games.
OL are not closing any doors.
"We are maintaining our investments to seize the opportunities of tomorrow which will allow our activities to pick up again," concludes the general manager of OL.
Each time we unveil new projects, such as the Arena, the strong enthusiasm of the public encourages us to persevere in this direction while taking into account the feedback that is given to us in environmental and social matters so that our model s 'inscribed in the sense of history.
"