Paris 2024: Games organizers rely on communities and their fan zones to ‘give substance to public celebration’

“It is important that all the territories and all the French people can be involved in the games.” : The ambition was recalled by Minister of Sport and Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) Amelie Oudea-Castera before MPs on 16 May, stressing that it will be partly based on “Clubs 2024”.

they “Holiday Places” Contributions must be labeled by Paris 2024 (the Games Organizing Committee), according to public authorities, “Making the games all over the country” and that “We gave content to the popular festival”A dimension that the first two phases of ticket sales have somewhat undermined.

Installed in gymnasiums, stadiums, gardens, these fan-zones will offer those who could not get the desired seats – or who could not afford to pay the expensive sesame – a taste, despite everything, of the Olympic atmosphere.

Access will be free, throughout the day, and it will be possible to follow the broadcast of the events. But we will also have access to sporting, cultural and recreational activities, which is the ambition “Gathering around sport, not just consuming it”Reported by the Ministry of Sports and JOP.

These spaces will add up to three “Live Sites” – according to the official name – which will open in the Île-de-France: Parc de la Villette and Trocadero in Paris (there will also be small fan zones in each district except the 7th.^e), also in the Georges-Valbon park in La Cournais (Saint-Saint-Denis).

Have “equitable distribution across the territory”

However, to benefit from Clubs 2024 you will need to live in (or near) a municipality that has chosen to create one and whose project has been chosen by Paris 2024. “We are sending the application files”We present to the leadership of the Games Organizing Committee.

The latter has launched a call for expressions of interest from October 2022 to February 2023 with communities potentially interested in hosting the Olympic venues and the “Terre de jeux” label. Paris 2024 specifies that the system should be presented by the end of July. One year before the opening of the Olympics.

To date, 239 communities, 33 of which will host competition or training venues, have expressed interest in hosting such spaces. with projects of different volumes, as they are implemented by both small municipalities and large metropolises.

The ambition is to have at least one club in the 2024 region. “This is to say that their distribution should be fair throughout the area and so we ensure that there are no gaps.”We emphasize the Ministry of Sports and JOP.

In the immediate future, Paris 2024 has called on the candidate communities to specify their projects by June 9 so that the organizing committee of the Games can have a map of the future meeting places of the board of directors. June 19 – this, among other things, will be devoted to the presentation of the holiday strategy.

The inter-ministerial delegate for the Games, Michel Cadeau, also asked prefects (outside Ile-de-France) to inform him by June 8 of any projects they are aware of and to give their opinion on the latter.

Display of sufficient security guarantees

In addition to the inventory of projects, the aim is also to be able to anticipate possible co-financing requirements and to assess the necessary safeguards.

Financially, there will be no support for Paris 2024 (budget of €4.38 billion). “We will support local authorities in the construction of their projects, visual identity, communication, communication with partners and broadcasters. [pour la mise à disposition gratuite du signal télévisuel] »We explain to the leadership of the organizing committee.

In Ile-de-France, the regional council will support municipalities that will see their projects maintained, while the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental council has also announced that it will provide financial support to non-host clubs in 2024. Olympic venue cities, “For the purpose of territorial rebalancing”. The Ministry of Sports and the JOP also indicate that, if necessary, it is possible to mobilize existing credits from the state budget to support certain topics.

This is a security component that may cause some crashes. In order to benefit from the Clubs 2024 label, the communities implementing the project must provide sufficient guarantees regarding the availability of local security resources – public and/or private – and they will be responsible for this security component.

However, this point is sensitive because Paris and its surroundings must mobilize around 30,000 police forces and 17,000 to 22,000 private security agents every day. And as for the latter, there is already a labor shortage. This concentration of security forces was brought up recently by Nathalie Aperre, mayor of Rennes (Socialist Party), to clarify that there would be no fan zone in her city.