Nice’s exclusion from the 2030 Alpine Winter Olympics and Paralympics scheme is leading to the suspension of several major projects. Economic players, elected officials and representatives from the building sector are raising concerns about the consequences for the region.
The decision by the Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee (Cojop) to transfer the ice events of the 2030 Olympics from Nice to Lyon is provoking numerous reactions in the Alpes-Maritimes. Beyond the loss of the sporting event, several infrastructure projects associated with hosting the Games are now suspended. The business world is also concerned about the impact on business activity and employment.
Since the award of the Winter Olympic Games to the French Alps in July 2024, several operations had been undertaken to prepare for the 2030 deadline. In Nice, the Games were to be accompanied by significant investments in sports facilities, housing and infrastructure.
Olympic projects halted
The Olympic Works Delivery Company (Solideo) had planned to invest 300 million euros in the Nice region. Two main operations were involved: the construction of the Olympic Omnisports Complex (COOL) and the creation of an Olympic village designed to accommodate 1,500 athletes before becoming a district comprising 400 homes. “Solideo was working on two major infrastructure projects,” explains Solideo’s Chief Executive Officer, Damien Robert.
The procedures were already well advanced. A tender for a global performance contract concerning the COOL was underway. Another tender concerned the realization of the athletes’ village. The consortium made up of Sogeprom and Demathieu and Bard Immobilier had recently been selected to lead the project.
“The procedures had been launched very quickly to deliver the projects on time. Now, the suspension of the procedures is underway. They were reaching maturity since we were about to move into the operational phase and the consultation phase with local residents at the end of June,” regrets Damien Robert.
The question of compensation remains open. “We will need to compensate the global skills market for the POOL and operators, this is provided for in the contracts,” says Solideo’s chief executive. On the other hand, “what cannot be compensated for is all the time spent in internal and public engineering.”
For Renaud Muselier, President of the South Region, the consequences remain difficult to measure. “We still don’t have a very clear idea of the consequences… Commitments have been made, letters written. It’s a complex stage,” says the regional official. According to the Region, the economic returns lost for the territory could reach 550 million euros.
The business world is demanding guarantees
The Union for Business in the Alpes-Maritimes (UPE06), the Nice Côte d’Azur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the French Federation of Building in the Alpes-Maritimes, UIMM Côte d’Azur & Corsica and UMIH Nice Azur & Haut Pays have published a joint statement. “We regret the loss of the business activity that the hosting of the Games would have represented and the direct and indirect jobs that would have been created, particularly in events, security, logistics, tourism and construction,” the organizations say.
Economic representatives are also concerned about the future of projects associated with the Games. “The acceleration of the transformation dynamics that has begun, whether it be mobility, with the delivery of Nice Airport Station planned for December 2029, or the construction of housing, can be maintained,” they hope.
The same stakeholders are calling for “consultations to be held in the very near future with all the economic actors in the territory, in order to provide visibility and to prevent the businesses in our department from being the big losers in this collective failure.”
During the Entreprenariales held at the Allianz Riviera, Éric Ciotti acknowledged the loss of the Olympic bid. “We lost the Games. I regret it, but it’s not the end of the world,” said the Mayor of Nice.
The mayor is nevertheless defending his position on the transformation of the OGC Nice stadium. “I made it very clear that I would not accept this stadium being occupied for a year to transform a 40,000-seater football stadium into a 15,000-seater ice rink. It’s an environmental aberration! Making ice in such a vast enclosure is a budgetary aberration! 100 million euros to cover the stadium is an economic aberration!“
In the building sector, concern dominates despite a willingness to adapt. “It would have been significant business activity,” says Florent Noiray, Vice-President of the Building Federation 06. “Housing is sluggish, local authorities lack resources… Every bit helps. After that, our companies are resilient. We managed without the Olympics before. We’ve been facing crises since 2020, we’ll get through this one too!”
A decision that continues to divide
The loss of ice events is also fueling political tensions. Éric Ciotti believes that “this decision is political. It is the result of maneuvers, pressure and interests that took precedence over the interests of the people of Nice.”
The President of the Alpes-Maritimes Department, Charles Ange Ginésy, also denounces a decision that is detrimental to the region. “I am dismayed by the COJOP’s decision to deprive Nice of ice events,” he says, recalling that financial support from the department of up to 40 million euros had been offered.
On the left, reactions are more mixed. Julien Picot recalls the communists’ opposition to the cost of the project and now calls for investment in local sports facilities. Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, opposition municipal councillor, considers like the mayor that “the project to cover a 30,000-seater stadium to put ice in it in mid-February, when it will be 10 degrees, was a complete aberration at 80 million euros.”
Meanwhile, the Cojop maintains that the choice of Lyon is based on technical, financial and organizational criteria. In a statement, the body states that “the alternative solutions sought proved unsatisfactory.”
The abandonment of the ice center in Nice thus marks a turning point for the 2030 Games in the Alpes-Maritimes. Beyond the political debate, the future of suspended projects and the expected economic returns now remains at the heart of local concerns.
