LIGUE 1
Paris Saint-Germain’s “ridiculous” bid to buy the Parc des Princes: where could they play future home games?
Negotiations between PSG and the Council of Paris over the purchase of the stadium have broken down, which could see the club move.
Paris Saint-Germain and the Council of Paris are further apart than ever in terms of their valuation of the Parc des Princes as the Ligue 1 leaders look to agree a deal to become owners of their own stadium. This Thursday, the club will present its bid to own the Stade de France from 2025 onwards, due to the council’s refusal to sell them their current home ground. The French government launched a call for tenders to find a buyer for the national stadium last month, with PSG set to battle it out with UEFA, amongst others, to obtain exploitation rights in two years’ time.
PSG’s priority to stay at the Parc des Princes
Despite that, president Nasser Al Khelaïfi’s priority is to stay at the Parc des Princes. However, the Council of Paris, headed by mayor Anne Hidalgo, say that there are plenty of obstacles to be overcome if negotiations are to move forward. In an interview with French television channel TF1 on Thursday, Hidalgo described PSG’s latest bid to buy their home stadium as “ridiculous”.
“Is my position with regard to the sale irrevocable? Yes, because you already know that we had opened the door to the possibility of selling the stadium to our club, PSG. It’s true that most big clubs have an economic model which means that they own their own stadium and we analysed that argument. Secondly, if the stadium is to be sold, the rules have to be followed, because it belongs to the people of Paris, not me personally. We live in a country where the rule of law works and there are established procedures for the buying and selling”, Hidalgo stated.
PSG’s “ridiculous” offer for the Parc des Princes
She continued: “There are prices that must be set and they must correspond to the real value of the property. When, at the end of a process in which we discussed and tried to evaluate what the price of the Parc des Princes could be, the club proposed €38 million ... I think ‘ridiculous’ is an appropriate way to describe that offer. So we said to ourselves that it was no longer going to be possible to come to an agreement and that there was no point in continuing the discussions. We are in a rule of law country. I still think the word ‘ridiculous’ is appropriate to describe the club’s €38 million offer.”
Stade de France a possible alternative home for PSG
If Hidalgo remains firm, PSG may have no choice but to move to the Stade de France, provided they meet all the requirements set out in the tender and that supporters agree to the possible relocation. The deadline for bids for the national stadium, where the French national soccer and rugby teams play their home games, was on Thursday at noon (CEST).