It's an endless soap opera.
With a convoluted scenario and multiple twists.
But still just as confusing.
Invited to leave quickly - this summer if possible - the Marcel-Cerdan sports hall in Levallois after three years of chaotic cohabitation, the Metropolitans 92 club is looking for a fallback solution to install its locker room and the sneakers of its players.
After having surveyed the Paris Basketball club for a merger, after having contacted foreign investors for a sale, the town hall of Boulogne-Billancourt (
which owns 95% of the company that manages the club, the Levallois Sporting Club owns the remaining 5%
) had approached the neighboring town of Nanterre for a new union.
It has been several months since the court began.
From April 13… 2021 according to our information.
An alliance between two clubs, two cities of Hauts-de-Seine which would not be illogical.
The two entities benefit from a subsidy of 500,000 euros each.
A marriage could therefore allow this newborn child to benefit from a substantial budget (
this season the Mets presented themselves with a budget of €7.5 million and Nanterre €5 million
), to pool skills and join the fight for the title alongside the best teams of the Betclic Elite.
Another advantage, the two coaches, Vincent Collet (Metropolitans) and Pascal Donnadieu (Nanterre) know each other well, are friends.
In the France team, Collet is the coach and Donnadieu his right arm.
#BetclicElite 👑 @willcummings_
👑#GoMets92 #Metropolitans92 #MVP @LNBofficiel #LNB Trophies
— Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 (@Metropolitans92) May 19, 2022
According to information from the newspaper L'Équipe, which we can confirm, the mayors of Boulogne and Nanterre met on Tuesday during a lunch to discuss the subject.
The tendency then was towards a rapprochement.
“The idea was for Boulogne to buy the 5% of the company that Levallois still owns, for him to cease operations (
Editor’s note: which would have allowed Orléans, 17th in Betclic, to save himself
) and for him to arrives as a partner for the project which would have started at the start of the 2022 school year and which we would have called Nanterre-Boulogne 92 ”, explains someone close to the file.
A few hours after this lunch with friends, the situation completely changed.
The project is now stillborn.
Thursday morning, a leader of the Metropolitans sent a text message to announce that they were going to stay at… Levallois.
A decision all the more surprising since the mayor of Levallois had indicated in our columns her desire to sell in the coming weeks the 5% of the capital of the Metropolitans and to see the club leave the room or, if it remained, "not in current conditions”.
“We discovered an aspect of the mayor of Boulogne that we did not imagine, confides a person close to the file at the town hall of Nanterre.
He has the ability to change his mind quickly on an important subject.
It's a shame !
We hadn't asked for anything, it's a non-event.
We continue to support the club in the same way.
»
#Vœux2018 @nanterre92 @DevedjianP congratulates the basketball club of #Nanterre and #hautsdeseine for its start to the season and its recent victories (French Cup and FIBAeuropecup2017) pic.twitter.com/3cjqZ5vHQZ
— Department of Hauts-de-Seine (@hautsdeseinefr) January 18, 2018
“Nanterre has never asked, it was Alain Weisz who called Pascal (
Donnadieu
) to talk about this project, saying that the Metropolitans were an above-ground club and that Nanterre was rooted in the territory, explains Frédéric Donnadieu, the president of Nanterre 92. We had several meetings and then nothing until May when we asked for explanations.
We agreed and suddenly we learn that they want to stay in Levallois.
It's sad to have wasted time for nothing.
»
A decision may be motivated by a new direction taken by the Boulogne-Levallois club.
Even if they received a dismissal from the town hall of Paris, the Mets would still not have drawn a line under a rapprochement with the club of the capital.
They may have had guarantees from a third party for a more advantageous redemption in the future.
“This project with Boulogne could have been beautiful but in any case, we would not have sold our soul to the devil, affirms Frédéric Donnadieu.
We would not have accepted a merger, we were discussing an abortion by the Nanterre club.
We have our identity, with youth teams, wheelchair basketball, in addition to the pros.
We have been in the elite for 11 years when we were predicted a round trip.
We have lots of projects (
a return to the Paris La Défense Arena is under study
).
Our desire has always been to protect the values of the club.
Maybe that's why the project didn't finish.
»
Contacted, neither the Boulogne-Billancourt town hall nor the club leaders responded to our requests.
But this soap opera is probably not finished yet.
And very clever is the one who can give the scenario of the next episode.
