Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, which notably brings together the Brittany and South-West federations of Crédit Mutuel, announced on Wednesday its financial support for the project for a new football stadium in Brest, which will bear the name of the bank.
For us, it is obvious and a strong commitment, said Julien Carmona, president of Crdit Mutuel Arka, during a press conference at the bank’s headquarters in the Brest area.
The mutual cooperative bank, which has already given its name to a stand at the Francis Le Bl stadium in Brest since 2010, is committed for the first eight years to the new stadium, which will be called Arka Stade or something else, said Mr. Carmona, without specifying the financial amount at stake, qualifying it only as a consequence.
Denis and Grard Le Saint, owners of the Stade Brestois, welcomed great news.
With Arka, we share the same values, assured Denis Le Saint.
At an estimated cost of 106.5 million euros, this new 15,000-seat stadium is to be built by 2027 on 17 hectares of Guipavas agricultural land, on the edge of the Brest metropolitan area.
It must be financed up to 25%, or 27 million euros, by public funds contributed in particular by the metropolis of Brest and the Brittany region.
The departmental council supports this new stadium project 150% (…) without any form of ambiguity or reservation, assured the president of the department of Finistre Mal de Calan, without specifying the amount of financial support from the department.
The Francis Le Bl stadium, where the club currently plays in the heart of Brest, no longer meets professional football standards.
The new stadium project is criticized by environmentalists in Brest, who believe that it is a project from another time, useless and climaticidal and plead for the renovation of the current stadium.
Every time we build something, we have a negative impact on the environment. We assume it, we know it, recognized Mr. Carmona, while Arka publishes its environmental and social footprint every year.
These are not easy subjects (…) There, we consider that the balance is very largely positive, he however estimated.
Founded in 1950, the Stade Brestois entered the elite for the first time in 1979 but experienced several relegations. Back in 2019, it has struggled to maintain itself in recent seasons.