the organizers of the Games rely on communities and their fan-zones to “give substance to the popular celebration”

“It is essential that the Games can involve all territories and all French people” : the ambition was recalled by the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP), Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, on May 16 before the deputies, stressing that this will be based, in part, on the “Clubs 2024”.

These “celebration sites” labeled by Paris 2024 (the organizing committee of the Games) must contribute, according to the public authorities, “to materialize the Games throughout the country” and to “to give substance to the popular festival”dimension that the first two phases of ticket sales have somewhat undermined.

Installed in gymnasiums, stadiums, gardens, these fan-zones will offer the possibility to those who have not been able to obtain the desired places – or who have not had the means to pay for the precious sesame -, to taste, despite everything, to the Olympic atmosphere.

Access will be free, all day, and it will be possible to follow the broadcast of the events. But we will also be able to access sports, cultural and recreational activities, the ambition being to “gathering around sport and not just consuming it”according to the Ministry of Sports and JOP.

These spaces will be added to the three “live sites” – according to the official name – which will be open in Ile-de-France: in the Parc de la Villette and at the Trocadéro for Paris (there will also be smaller fan-zones in each arrondissement, except 7^e), as well as in the Georges-Valbon park, in La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis).

Have an “equitable distribution throughout the territory”

To take advantage of Clubs 2024, however, you will have to live in a municipality (or nearby) which has chosen to create one and whose project has been selected by Paris 2024. “We send up the application files”we explain to the management of the Organizing Committee of the Games.

The latter had launched a call for expressions of interest between October 2022 and February 2023 with the communities potentially concerned – those hosting Olympic sites and those labeled “Terre de jeux”. Paris 2024 specifies that the system should be presented at the end of July , one year before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

To date, 239 communities, 33 of which will host competition or training sites, have expressed their desire to deploy such spaces. With projects of different scope, since they are carried by small municipalities as well as by large metropolises.

The ambition is to have at least one Club 2024 per region. “It’s a way of saying that their distribution must be fair throughout the territory and we will therefore ensure that there are no holes”we stress at the Ministry of Sports and JOP.

In the immediate future, the candidate communities have been called upon by Paris 2024 to specify their projects before June 9, so that the Organizing Committee of the Games can have a map of the future gathering places for its board of directors. of June 19 – this will, among other things, be devoted to a presentation of the celebration strategy.

The interministerial delegate for the Games, Michel Cadot, has also asked the prefects (outside Ile-de-France) to inform him, by June 8, of the projects of which they are aware and give him an opinion on these latter.

Display sufficient security guarantees

Beyond an inventory of projects, the objective is also to be able to anticipate possible requests for co-financing and to assess the security means that will be necessary.

Financially, there will be no support from Paris 2024 (4.38 billion euros budget). “We will support local authorities in the construction of their projects, on visual identity, communication, connection with partners and with the broadcaster. [pour la mise à disposition gratuite du signal télévisuel] »we explain to the management of the Organizing Committee.

In Ile-de-France, the regional council will however support the municipalities which will see their projects retained, whereas the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis also announced that it will provide financial support to the 2024 Clubs of cities not hosting Olympic sites, “with the aim of territorial rebalancing”. At the Ministry of Sports and JOP, it is also specified that, if necessary, existing credits from the State budget can be mobilized to support certain communities.

It is the security component that could cause some blockages. To benefit from the Clubs 2024 label, the communities carrying out a project must indeed provide sufficient guarantees as to the availability of local security resources – public and/or private – and it is they who will be responsible for this security component.

However, this point is sensitive, because Paris and its outskirts should mobilize, every day, about 30,000 police forces and between 17,000 and 22,000 private security agents. And, as far as the latter are concerned, there is already a noted labor shortage. This concentration of security forces was recently put forward by Nathalie Appéré, the mayor (Socialist Party) of Rennes, to explain that there will be no fan-zone in her city.