Each person would be well-advised to be convinced of it: sport is a national issue, a matter of state. One might think that saying so is stating the obvious when observing the emotions created by the performances of French teams or champions in major international competitions.
But the essence is not in these grand surges of pride or sadness that regularly grip the nation. It lies in the necessity to recognize the place sport should hold: sport is a key sector for the 21st century, carrying both major economic stakes and values whose importance can only grow as they revolve around universality, tolerance, diversity…
Yes, sport must be considered for what it is: a national issue that demands to be served by a comprehensive will that mobilizes all interested parties. It is this way, and only this way, that France can provide it with the means to develop fully and secure the chance to reap all its benefits.
Certainly, sport is a major human vector, fostering personal development, the transmission of values, and the creation of social bonds. But it is also, and increasingly will be, a major economic issue, a creator of growth and employment. Let us not forget, to name just a few examples, that a Grand Prix F1 generates around 100 million euros in returns, or that a stadium is a major structuring asset for territorial development and that it generates not only additional revenue for clubs but also tax income for the state.
Many countries have already understood this, far better than France. Germany, for the 2006 football World Cup, redid all its stadiums, turning them into true living spaces in the city while providing its football clubs with significant revenue sources and thus opportunities for development, unmatched by what we know in France. In contrast, in 1998, France merely built the one in Saint-Denis and gave a simple coat of paint to the others. The question of the opportunity to build modern stadiums is still being debated today.
Spain, on the other hand, is asserting itself on the sports scene, producing champions in several disciplines. This is obviously not by chance: good infrastructures, more resources allocated to clubs and federations necessarily lead, in the medium term, to better sports results. Like England, Spain is increasingly asserting itself in choosing major sports rendezvous, to the point of having a significant chance today of taking from Roland-Garros the honor of organizing one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Similarly, who would have thought it would go to the finals against Rio de Janeiro for the choice of the 2016 Games, when all observers foresaw Chicago? Again, a constant presence and influence within international sports movements have proved their effectiveness.
As for the emerging countries, they too have well perceived all the potential of an active policy in the domain of sports. The most striking example comes from Brazil, which achieved the feat of securing the organization of two major events, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. But we could also mention the means invested by Abu Dhabi for organizing a Grand Prix F1 or the construction for 1.4 billion dollars of the ultra-modern Sporthub in Singapore, the largest sports infrastructure built in a public-private partnership (PPP) in the world, through which Singapore intends to position itself as a benchmark in global sport and, ultimately, host major international sporting events. All these countries, all these successes have one point in common: sports movements, political leaders, and economic actors work together to advance projects and ambitions.
France, unfortunately, has not yet managed to create this fruitful alchemy and risks, without strong and rapid awareness, excluding itself from the new geostrategy of sport that is in the making. Stuck on its past as the homeland of Pierre de Coubertin and its pride in seeing French remain the official Olympic language, France is on the verge of marginalizing itself.
Only a few French individuals truly weigh in on the global sports movement, among them Jean Todt, Michel Platini, and Bernard Lapasset, or the two French representatives at the IOC, Guy Drut and Jean-Claude Killy. France has not organized a major event since the 1998 World Cup. Organizing Euro 2016 will be a tough battle, yet vital for French football in particular but also for sport in general. There is no longer a French Grand Prix F1. The innovative and audacious project of the new Lyon stadium is hindered by political considerations. Too few large French groups place sport at the heart of their corporate strategy as companies like Coca-Cola, Emirates, or Allianz do…
In short, none of the three main actors seems to have grasped the scale of the stakes, whether it be the sports movement, politics, or the economic world. And no genuine collective and coordinated action is underway, unlike the “war machines” in place in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, or Russia. Yet there is no fatality. The sports movement must remain strong and independent, as it is the guarantor of the values that make the value of sport. The political power must set directions and impose a vision. The economic world must align its capabilities and techniques with the stakes…
No, there is no inevitability of decline. There is only urgency to react.
Olivier Guiguet
