The petition launched by the CNOSF (French National Olympic and Sports Committee) since Friday has already gathered 215,000 signatures. It’s a good start in countering the upcoming vote on the Sports Funding Law in Parliament on October 18.
Yesterday, a press conference was held on the Opéra beach in Nice to promote the national petition with the slogan: #LeSportCompte. Many sports figures from the Alpes Maritimes answered the call. The common goal is to fight against the reduction of the state’s budget dedicated to sports.
On a national level, a petition has been online for the past 8 days. More than 215,000 signatures have already been collected. However, according to the CNOSF authorities, this is not enough to “be credible”. The authorities, committees, and associations have until October 18, the date of the parliamentary session, to gather as many signatures as possible. “We aim for 800,000 signatures. 1 million would be perfect. We still have more than two weeks,” declares Philippe Manassero, President of the Departmental Olympic and Sports Committee of Alpes-Maritimes. “The goal is clear: through this petition, we want to convey to the government that sports are indispensable to the French. We are not only talking about competitive sports but also health and recreational sports,” he adds.
The petition is national, but each local Olympic committee proceeds as it wishes. In the Alpes Maritimes, three strategies have been set up: “We have created banners that we install on our premises. Additionally, we add posters that we distribute to various municipalities in the department for the mayor to have them installed. Tomorrow we will also be at the Allianz Riviera forecourt to distribute more than 20,000 flyers before the Nice-PSG match,” emphasizes Mr. Manassero.
A 30-million-euro cut in 2019
“The budget dedicated to sports represents only 0.13% of the state’s budget,” informs Eric Tanguy, a CNOSF member. “We have the smallest budget, and they want to reduce it further. We are fighting because the ultimate losers will be the license holders. If the budget decreases, the license holder will have to pay more,” he adds. In 2018, the budget amounted to 481 million euros. The 2019 budget is close to 451 million euros, a decrease of 30 million. A measure that Mr. Tanguy finds difficult to accept. “We don’t understand. We will host the 2024 Olympic Games, and we are being asked to achieve a goal of 80 medals (double compared to 2016). But how can we do that if our budget is reduced? They want to double the goals while decreasing the resources.”
One thing is certain. The CNOSF has until October 18 to reach its goal of 800,000 signatures.
Pierre Ferrand
