The Olympic flame will not pass through the Creuse. Nor by Haute-Vienne, Loire-Atlantique, Indre-et-Loire, Côtes-d’Armor, Orne, Vosges or Lot-et-Garonne. While Paris is to host the next Olympic Games in 2024, and the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) dreamed of a passage of the Olympic flame in all the French departments, they are already numerous to have put their veto. In question, the asking price: 150,000 euros per department.
“The Olympic flame will not come to Creuse, it’s a cost problem”simply summarized Marie-Christine Bunlon, vice-president of the department in charge of sports, near The mountainon February 10, recalling that the cost has gradually increased, going from 80,000 euros at the start to 150,000 euros today.
The bill even increases to 180,000 euros once all taxes have been accounted for, adds Jean-Claude Leblois, president of the Haute-Vienne departmental council. “It’s about 180,000 euros for a single day and, in addition, it’s counting without the cost of entertainment. It’s exorbitant.” he regrets.
“This sum is half of my budget to finance sporting events all year round”, adds Ludovic Gouyette, vice-president of the Côtes-d’Armor department, questioned by West France, which is also going to be deadlocked. He also notes that he “should add additional costs, for security, entertainment…”. “I fell off my chair! »remember, on France BleuSylvie Giner, vice-president of the department of Indre-et-Loire, in charge of sport and culture.
The same price for all?
This figure is all the higher for certain departments that they are not authorized to associate with the private sector to amortize the costs, since “The OCOG wishes to associate several of its partners with the event in three distinct rows. Coca-Cola and Toyota, IOC sponsors and partners of the Tokyo Games Torch Relay, will be priorities for the Paris Games,” wrote The Team, from December 2021. They can, however, “share the bill with public actors”.
For the vice-president of the Haute-Vienne department, Thierry Miguel, the system proposed by the OCOG for hosting the relay is unfair, as not all departments have the same budgets. This is why he put forward the hypothesis of a different price according to the departments, arguing ” the difference in resources that may exist between Hauts-de-Seine and Creuse”for example.
On the Loire-Atlantique side, beyond the price, we also regret not being able to choose the day of the passage of the flame: “If it’s a weekday when the 400,000 amateur licensees are at school or at work, it’s not the same as if it’s a Saturday,” underlines Louise Pahun, vice-president of the departmental council, questioned by West France.
“Cost sharing”
“This sum pays part of what each day of the passage of the flame costs: it is logistics, signage, torchbearers, animations…”replied Michaël Aloïsio, spokesperson for the Paris 2024 organizing committee, with France Bleu. According to Tony Estanguet, President of the OCOG, the rate requested is “also the result of a benchmark that we carried out with other traveling events”, does he defend himself in The Team.
For example, to host the Tour de France, a city had to pay the organizer (Amaury Sport Organisation) 65,000 euros to host the start of a stage110,000 euros for the finish and 160,000 for both, in 2021. But, after this payment, it had only acquired the rights to host the race, recalls Patrick Clastres, sports historian and professor at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland): “In addition, you have to pay the related costs. It can be tens of thousands of euros more. » The city of Fougères, which hosted the finish of the fourth stage of the 2021 edition, had thus planned 60,000 euros of expenditure extra for the organization of the event.
“We are not in a logic of making money, argues Tony Estanguet in The Team. It is a participation in the cost, because the costs which are generated by this course of the torch relay over three months are much greater than the contribution which is requested from the departments. (…) The price was not set by Paris 2024, but we associated the associations of elected officials and the latter found that it was a price accessible to all territories. »
Tony Estanguet also asserts that“a very large majority of departments have already welcomed the approach very positively”.
Hope for economic benefits
Aisne and the North have applied, as have Vaucluse, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Deux-Sèvres, wrote Agence France-Presse (AFP) on February 15. Departments to which we can add Tarn, Aveyron, Aude and Haute-Garonne, which have confirmed their candidacy near The Midi Dispatch. Vincent Saulnier, vice-president of the departmental council of Mayenne, confirmed that the Olympic flame will pass through the department, highlighting its rate of licensees, and seeing there “a way to enhance the territories”, for a fee ” reasonable ” and spread over three years.
Stéphane Villain, vice-president of Charente-Maritime in charge of tourism and sports, also said he was ready to welcome the Olympic flame, underlining the beneficial role of the passage of the Tour de France 2020, during which the department had hosted the day rest, then a stage between the island of Oléron and the island of Ré, before organizing a new start at Châtelaillon-Plage. “We are still getting the tourist benefits”assured Mr. Villain to AFP.
Patrick Clastres however seems less optimistic for the passage of the flame. If the sports historian notes that this relay can cause a certain enthusiasm, in particular in the Asian countries, in the “Old Europe” feelings are more mixed, he notes, referring to a certain “disenchantment”. “I don’t believe in the economic benefitshe asserts. It’s not an event that has the same impact as hosting a Tour de France. You have worldwide visibility when you host the Tour de France. Tourists, followers, enthusiasts move and generate hotel and commercial activity. For the Olympic flame, people will not come especially, and will not come to carry the flame in a department that is not theirs. The passage of the flame is a non-event, except for those who carry it. »