The Vinci-Bouygues consortium appeals to the Council of State against the choice of GL Events for the management of the Stade de France

The State, owner of the Stade de France, announced at the beginning of December that it had chosen the Lyon company GL Events for exclusive negotiations with a view to awarding it the thirty-year concession for the stadium located in Saint-Denis, north of Paris.

The current consortium holding the contract, two-thirds owned by Vinci and one-third by Bouygues, is due to hand over the keys in principle at the beginning of August 2025, after 30 years of operating the sports complex.

Arguing in particular that there had been unequal treatment between the candidates, the consortium had brought an interim action before the administrative judge to request the cancellation of the call for tenders launched in March 2023 to choose the new concessionaire for the Stadium.

The Montreuil administrative court rejected his appeal at the beginning of February, ruling that the State had not failed in its publicity and competition obligations.

The State's specifications prescribe work to renovate this venue, which needs to be modernised and which will have to continue to host matches of the French football and rugby teams.

The Stade de France concession was hastily awarded for 30 years to the Vinci-Bouygues consortium between the two rounds of the 1995 presidential election. Numerous disputes followed, costing a lot of public money.

In 2023, the State had initially launched two procedures in parallel: one to sell the stadium and the other to renew the concession. In the absence of a candidate for the purchase, the sale procedure had been abandoned.

The Bouygues and Vinci groups, questioned by AFP, made no comment, referring to the consortium.