Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, has confirmed the Paris football giants are now planning to move out of their Parc des Princes home. It marks a dramatic U-turn, after the club had previously spoken of its desire to purchase the stadium from the City of Paris, which publicly owns the complex.
Al-Khelaifi said recently at a UEFA executive committee that it's "over" regarding the club's negotiations with City of Paris officials. He said the club had "wasted years" trying to acquire the stadium and its latest £85 million offer had been thrown out by Paris' mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who believes the iconic 48,000-seater football stadium has a market value of £250 million.
With both parties poles apart in terms of the stadium's valuation, it seems likely that the club will move on to pastures new, despite the fact their tenancy doesn't expire until the end of the 2042/43 season.
One of the biggest question marks for PSG's ownership group is whether Paris can sustain another football stadium elsewhere in the capital. It's true that attendances have been declining for PSG since their peak in the 2019/20 Ligue 1 season. So far in the 2023/24 campaign, attendances are averaging just over the 42,500 mark.
Even if the Parc des Princes does indeed become a white elephant for the City of Paris, a new PSG stadium could be a cheaper move for the club in the long run. They currently pay rent on the stadium and have already forked out over £70 million in maintenance, with a further £420 million estimated to be required for expansion plans. This is a figure the club's hierarchy aren't prepared to pay for an arena they don't own.
Nevertheless, this is a city with a proud sporting heritage, so there would surely be room for another purpose-built arena. Paris was selected to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which will bring upwards of 15 million spectators to the events. It's a city that's equally as passionate about rugby union as it is about football, with the French national team playing at the Stade de France. It's also fast becoming one of Europe's leading poker hubs, with Paris cemented as a mainstay on the European circuit, otherwise known as the European Poker Tour. In fact, this year's Paris event is being staged in a brand-new venue, Les Palais des Congres, demonstrating that, like football and rugby, poker is at the heart of Parisian popular culture.
Initially, PSG's Qatari owners had considered looking to do a deal to play their games at Stade de France, which remains the biggest stadium in Paris today. However, the stadium's obligations imposed on it by the French authorities have since rendered the arena incompatible with PSG's stadium proposals.
Instead, PSG aim to take a leaf out of the business models of other European football giants. The likes of Bayern Munich, who own their Allianz Arena, can drive significant commercial revenues by owning their stadium outright and PSG plan to do the same. With £490 million needing to be sunk into the Parc des Princes to get it up to scratch – without the prospect of the club benefitting from the improved value of the facilities – it just doesn't make sound business sense to stick around at the arena that's been their home since 1973.
However, the Qataris playing hard ball and looking at other sites for a stadium development could yet bring the City of Paris back to the negotiating table. Although Hidalgo firmly rebuffed PSG's latest offer, the city's deputy mayor recently spoke out using much softer rhetoric, insisting the organisation was "ready to resume negotiations" and that an acquisition of the Parc des Princes was "the safest solution" for the club itself.
There is a sense that this ongoing saga may not yet have reached a conclusion. Although the PSG ownership group don't care if the Parc des Princes becomes a white elephant in the club's absence, the City of Paris would lose a great deal of value from having them as tenants. A sale remains in the best interests of both parties.
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