Certainly, this new stadium has had a complicated gestation from its very conception: we remember the criticisms of the chosen financing and construction formula (PPP), its cost deemed excessive compared to other similar cases, the controversy surrounding the naming which simply forgot the name Nice for a more generic Riviera…
Here we are now, with the accounting slate and the costs to the municipality fluctuating from one figure to another… and which deserve more precision. Waiting for the next…
The statement by the mayor of Nice on August 4th to the local gazette in which the annual fee of 5.8 million paid by the municipality to Vinci, the concessionaire of the new stadium, is contested by municipal and metropolitan councilor Emmanuelle Gaziello (Communist and Republicans Group) who, with supporting figures, declares:
“Christian Estrosi tried to make people believe that the rent paid by the City of Nice would be only 5.8 million euros for 27 years. I can prove, on the contrary, that the fee will be 9.6 million based on the stadium’s attendance for the 2011-2012 season.”
And announced that a letter had been sent, to date without response, to the mayor to request more explanation. Failing which, the opposition councilor is preparing to challenge him at the next municipal council.
Emmanuelle Gaziello’s calculation starts from the municipal deliberation of December 17th which provides for an annual amount of 10,838,037 euros excluding taxes, a value from which the part that OGCN as a resident club will have to pay must be subtracted, being 1 million per year as a fixed part plus a proportional share based on ticket sales revenue.
While the municipal deliberation anticipated a total revenue from this title between 3 and 4 million for a net cost between 6.8 and 7.8, the elected official, based on current revenues, does not go beyond an estimate of 1.2 million hence the calculation of 9.6 million.
Emmanuelle Gaziello’s criticism of the mayor of Nice is unreserved: “Already stripped of this sporting arena by its future designation ‘Allianz Riviera’ (editor’s note: whose financial benefits will go to Vinci as per the concession contract), the people of Nice and the Gym supporters could be subject to a serious increase in ticket prices to watch their Eagles play in order to raise the ticket office revenue to the forecast.”
And to conclude: “Mystification or headlong rush by a hurried official who mistakes his dreams of grandeur for reality to the detriment of daily life, the finances, and the environment of Nice?”
