With the creation on January 1, 2012, of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, the first Metropolis in France comprising 46 municipalities, from the azure coast to the highest peaks of the Mercantour, the territory now has a new territorial governance tool that allows it to address economic challenges and be competitive with other major European Metropolises.
289 sporting events are supported by the city of Nice each year, with an average annual budget of €2.5 million (excluding exceptional world events such as the World Figure Skating Championships in March 2012 or the Francophone Games in September 2013). Nice, a favored land for sport, is a reality.
The city hosted the Nice Spring Tour in March 2012 (a show jumping competition marking the grand return of high-level equestrianism to Nice), the World Figure Skating Championships from March 26 to April 1, and the third edition of the Nice Côte d’Azur Tennis Open took place on the Nice LTC’s clay courts from May 20 to 26.
Other major sporting events will be organized in the coming years: the Francophone Games and the Tour de France in 2013, the European Masters Games in 2015, and the Euro football tournament in 2016. These are major competitions that enrich the “classic” program of major sporting events in Nice: IronMan, Europétanque, International Skating Cup, Paris-Nice cycling race, Alpes-Maritimes Marathon…
All these events contribute to the city’s vibrancy, the development of sports activities, and the recognition of the city and the Metropolis on the international stage.
Sport in Nice is experienced intensely every day!
An ambitious sports policy: sports have regained their former glory
More than €40 million have been invested over the past four years for the creation of 14 synthetic fields in different neighborhoods of the city, for significant renovations of sports complexes, swimming pools, the equestrian center, and for the renovation of numerous boules courts and other sports facilities. The sports budget has increased by 74% compared to 2007!
This ambition of making Nice a city of sport for all will be magnificently illustrated in June 2013 with the delivery of the Nice Stadium.
The configuration and location of this multifunctional urban stadium with 35,000 seats will make it a major facility for the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, within an area of attraction. It will operate throughout the year. The scheduled lounges will be used to develop seminar activities. Service spaces, commercial areas, and offices complement the project’s program to ensure the site’s continuous activity.
Additionally, the National Museum of Sport will be established within it in 2013. As the capital of the Côte d’Azur, the fifth-largest city in France, the second-largest tourist hub in the country with over 4.5 million visitors per year, and the second-largest airport in France with 10 million passengers each year, Nice, and more broadly the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, benefits from a unique setting and exceptional climate, between the sea and the mountains.
These assets enable the hosting of major national and international sporting events.
Organizing or hosting major international sporting events in Nice contributes to this ambition, in addition to other municipal actions promoting and developing sport: covering all or part of the cost of sports licenses for 6-18 year-olds, “Seniors in Shape” initiative, interventions by high-level athletes in schools, increased support for sports associations and high-level athletes such as Yannick Agnel, Camille Muffat, Charlotte Bonnet, Anna Santamans, Clément Lefert, Sofiane Milous, and Cynthia Vescan.
Sport for all in every neighborhood
The city of Nice undertakes numerous actions in favor of sports for all:
Funding licenses for young Niçois aged 6 to 18.
Aid can go up to 40 euros. €200,000 was invested for 8,350 young people in 2011. This year, more than 15,000 young people are affected by this measure (€300,000 invested)!
Development of sport in schools, with high-level athletes intervening in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education.
20 new schools participated in this project, and 70 classes were involved in interventions by our high-level athletes in 2011;
Seniors in Shape Operation launched in 2011: over 1,200 participants each month.
Thanks to these actions, the City of Nice now counts 73,000 licensed members (+10% in 4 years for clubs with objective contracts).
