During her hearing by the extended Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly as part of the examination of the 2013 finance bill, the Minister of Sports, Valérie Fourneyron, extensively addressed the poor financial situation of the National Center for the Development of Sport.
During a session dedicated to examining the budgets for the Sports, Youth, and Community Life missions of the 2013 finance bill, she focused heavily on the situation of the National Center for the Development of Sport (CNDS), expressing the hope that the State would no longer be the adjustment variable.
Another direct criticism was aimed at the proposed relocation of the National Sports Museum, which particularly interests Nice and its installation inside the new Allianz Arena stadium, where it is expected to be both a cultural and commercial flagship.
For Valérie Fourneyron, this museum, which houses “one of the largest collections in the world, not just concerning French sports,” is in a deadlock.
On one hand, the current facility receives “about 50 visitors a day while three-quarters of the collections are stored in warehouses,” and 22 employees work in a building on Avenue de France, in Paris, which does not belong to the ministry and into which the State has invested 5 million euros.
On the other hand, the move to the future stadium in Nice requires 8.4 million euros, “yet there isn’t a single euro of credit for this investment,” points out the minister, adding: “The State has already contributed 20 million to the PPP for the Nice stadium, which would like the investment, personnel costs, and operating costs to be entirely borne by the State without any contribution from a local authority. It’s a scheme many dream of, but for now, it is absolutely not feasible.”
Valérie Fourneyron’s solution? That the Nice City Council invests, with the ministry reimbursing through rent.
This is probably not what the local stakeholders expected to do…
To be continued!
