If Christian Estrosi thought he could achieve unanimity with the signing of the naming rights contract with the German insurer Allianz, in exchange for the tidy sum of 1.8 million euros per year, he may not have expected such an outcry over the choice of name.
The opposition, across all parties, unanimously attacked the choice made by the Mayor of Nice. In truth, this choice was made at the moment the decision was taken to entrust the construction of the new stadium in a PPP (public-private partnership).
After all, everything was already laid out in a directive line consistent with what happens in the vast majority of such cases. Why and for whom should Christian Estrosi have vetoed the Vinci-Allianz agreement?
We await the follow-up and especially to know how many people from Nice prefer “identity” to financial advantages…
A fine match is on the horizon outside the playing field!
Patrick Allemand (Change of Era/PS): Nice and the locals dispossessed of their stadium!
The “Change of Era” group had warned the people of Nice who are discovering what a Public-Private Partnership is. The taxpayer will pay for 30 years for a sports facility that does not belong to them.
The “naming” contract recently signed for 1.8 million euros annually between the German insurance giant Allianz and the Vinci group demonstrates this.
Neither the OGC Nice, nor the Mayor of Nice, and even less so the people of Nice, have any say in the matter.
The stadium will be named “Allianz Riviera.” 81% of the people of Nice are against it! Yet that did not prevent the Mayor of Nice, despite having a veto right, from endorsing the name of a stadium that excludes the name of the city. The means at his disposal should have at least allowed him to impose the name “Nice Allianz Riviera.” He didn’t even make that effort.
I have always believed that our club would lose its identity in the change of location and in choosing the Public-Private Partnership as a financing method.
We are here now, and we are not at the end of our surprises.
Gaël Nofri (Bleu Marine FN): Allianz Riviera: more than a name, a symbol.
The choice of a stadium name should be a moment of communion between a team, its history, the territory it is tied to, its identity, and its supporters…
Alas, in Nice, this is not the case. If we have long known the nature of the relationships between certain politicians and the world of money, the choice of the new name for the football stadium is an extraordinary symbol of what we would not want. After a stadium whose cost has strangely exploded since the election of the new municipality, the construction of this facility brought us yet another disappointment: the humiliation of a name dictated by mercantile, advertising considerations, contrary to the wishes of the people of Nice…
It is high time in our territory to moralize public life and put an end to the displayed contempt of our elected officials for the interests of the people of the Côte d’Azur. We propose that the name of the future stadium of the city of Nice be decided by an ad hoc commission composed of elected officials, representatives of the local associative and sports community, former local players, and a delegation of supporters.
Philippe Vardon (Nissa Rebela): by bargaining the name of the Grand stadium, we are further bargaining away our identity
Long awaited, the verdict has fallen: the Grand stadium of Nice will be called the Allianz Riviera. The German insurer bought the name for a grant amounting to 1.8 million euros per year.
It’s a (new) slap in the face for all those who see in sports something more than just business, for all those who see in OGC Nice something more than just a football club.
Whether they fought to keep the club at the Stade du Ray, as was the case with the identitarians, or supported the Grand stadium in the plain, none of the Gym’s supporters ever wanted the stadium to become an advertisement for any international group…
On the contrary, names rooted in the history of our city or the club have always been preferred in surveys.
By taking OGC Nice away from the Ray, and therefore away from the city of Nice (from 2013 we will no longer “go up” to the stadium), they were already committing a crime against the club’s identity in our eyes.
By bargaining the name of the Grand stadium today (for an amount that isn’t that significant anyway), we are further bargaining away our identity.
A compromise could have been found, but here they even chose “Riviera” to appeal to the international public. Well… to Allianz’s international clients.
The club’s leaders, and especially the city of Nice with Christian Estrosi at the forefront, have just wounded the heart and passion of all the Gym’s lovers, and more broadly all the people of Nice.
For the identitarians, our pride, our passion, our identity – of which sports is a part – are not mere commercial objects. The Gym is part of the heritage and memory of all the people of Nice; our memory is not for sale!
We ask Christian Estrosi, Jean-Pierre Rivère, and Allianz group leaders to reconsider the project. If they want the Grand stadium to enter the hearts of the people of Nice, they must consider a name that also fits into their memory and that of the club.
Nissa Rebela has just launched a large online petition allowing the people of Nice to join our cause.
Emmanuelle Gaziello (PC): “A Symbol!”
M. Estrosi, who refused to name the new stadium after Léo Lagrange, allows Vinci to enter into a ‘naming’ contract with Allianz, an insurer and major economic player of the Nazi regime, which, although having settled compensation funds, is still under accusations by American citizens grouped in a class action. It should be noted that the same deal proposed for the New York sports stadium in 2008 was refused on these grounds. It was for 25 million dollars!’.
