The day after the open letter was sent by the Sports Movement to the President of the Republic on October 26, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) decided to conduct a survey through the federations, targeting federated clubs, to assess the impact, particularly financial, of the Covid-19 crisis. To do this, they were asked to provide a comparative report of their situation between the end of October 2019 and the end of October 2020.
With responses from 44,414 clubs, this survey has set a record for participation, with nearly one-third of federated clubs participating. It highlighted notable differences among sports: while 26% of responding clubs do not report a significant loss of members over one year, 74% of them, however, declare on average a loss of 26% of members due to the epidemic.
Beyond the loss of membership fees, 78% of clubs confirm having experienced an economic loss in other areas such as reduced resources from partnerships and sponsorships, a reduction or even a total elimination of ticket sales income, as well as decreased subsidies…
At this stage of analysis, based on a representative sample of 36,000 clubs, there is already a revenue deficit amounting to 376 million euros, including 260 million in membership fee losses and 116 million in “other” losses (subsidies, partnerships, ticket sales…), before accounting for other more specific losses.
These amounts reveal the predictable difficulties that clubs and federations will face in this context of ongoing health constraints. They also underscore the urgent need for additional support within the framework of the federations’ objective agreements and the Federal Sports Projects managed by the National Sports Agency.
At the same time, it is crucial to immediately plan the implementation of a “Sport Pass,” which would be aid for families to encourage the French to participate in club sports as soon as possible.
