RS Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 (edited) Looks like the mayor of Avignon is not willing to pay the staging fee of €200,000. The city would be a big loss as you might say after Toulouse and Perpignan it would be a banker to host well attended games. Always worries me when things start to unravel with French RL plans, I really do hope they can put on a good tournament. “For the moment, it is still the great vagueness about the cities that will host the 2025 World Cup. Just over two years into the event, the closure of this part is lagging behind and the organization has just lost one of its largest potential cities. Avignon, a treizist bastion, will not host any matches for the next World Cup. Zinèbe Haddaoui, deputy mayor of Avignon, explained in Le Dauphiné: We had many exchanges with the organizing committee. But at the moment, we cannot afford We had many exchanges with the organizing committee. But at the moment, we cannot afford to commit such a sum. With 200,000 euros we can do a dozen events.” https://treizemondial.fr/avignon-norganisera-pas-de-match-de-la-coupe-du-monde-2025/?fbclid=IwAR2W0Rt7kEC6DquPAc26IKf3OkvdNhRFoHA0BuRt0qpZ-5usYLq1OFFxqB8#lfman0v4gho4u1c17h Edited March 24, 2023 by RS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 €200,000 seems an awful lot but fair play to the organisers for thinking big and trying to extract money from the local authorities. I hope that does work though and do fear that the game isn't strong enough and a big enough sell to be able to force that through. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jughead Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 One of the two biggest venues in French domestic RL ruling themselves out isn’t a good look. It seems like an awful lot of money, for what may only be a game or two, too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim from Oz Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 This is worrying… if a “treize bastion” like Avignon refuses to pay, how many other cities actually will ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Is Avignon really a bastion of rugby league? I know they had some big international attendances in the lash but their Elite 1 team struggle to attract a few hundred fans to games. That said, this is a big miss if it can’t be turned around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pahars Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 25 minutes ago, Damien said: €200,000 seems an awful lot but fair play to the organisers for thinking big and trying to extract money from the local authorities. I hope that does work though and do fear that the game isn't strong enough and a big enough sell to be able to force that through. I suppose it depends how many people it would attract to the area. All it would take is 1,000 people spending over €200 to justify it as a boost to the local economy. I would have thought England games would go for a lot more. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerjon Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Just now, Eddie said: Is Avignon really a bastion of rugby league? I know they had some big international attendances in the lash but their Elite 1 team struggle to attract a few hundred fans to games. That said, this is a big miss if it can’t be turned around. I could be cruel and say that anywhere in France that gets a few hundred to a game is going to count as a bastion. I could be even crueller and say that I think there's a pretty decent chance that in the next year we see the World Cup taken away from France, or at least shared with England. Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Gordon Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 5 minutes ago, gingerjon said: ... I could be even crueller and say that I think there's a pretty decent chance that in the next year we see the World Cup taken away from France, or at least shared with England. I wanted to both 'like' and 'sad' this comment. This could be the sub-optimal solution. Anyway, I am standing ready to book stuff for France 25 as soon as it becomes available. Seems a bit chicken and egg at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerjon Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Just now, Archie Gordon said: I wanted to both 'like' and 'sad' this comment. This could be the sub-optimal solution. Anyway, I am standing ready to book stuff for France 25 as soon as it becomes available. Seems a bit chicken and egg at the moment. I'm not faulting the ambition, I'm really not, and I have nothing but respect for anyone trying to make it work but ... well, there's ambition and reality, and, right now, reality seems to not be onside to a major French World Cup. 1 Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barley Mow Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 7 minutes ago, Eddie said: Is Avignon really a bastion of rugby league? I know they had some big international attendances in the lash but their Elite 1 team struggle to attract a few hundred fans to games. That said, this is a big miss if it can’t be turned around. In a culture where many of the clubs represent small towns and even villages, Avignon is one of the few bigger places with an elite 1 team and a RL history/present. It is also the focus for a hinterland of RL small towns and villages in the local area, all of which have their own groups of a few hundred/thousand fans - these people would all see Avignon as the place they would go for world cup matches/internationals. That's probably why it is important rather than SOA attracting significant crowds to their club matches every week. It is probably the wider area that is a bastion of rugby league (in French terms) rather than SOA/Avignon specifically. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fighting irish Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 17 minutes ago, pahars said: I suppose it depends how many people it would attract to the area. All it would take is 1,000 people spending over €200 to justify it as a boost to the local economy. I would have thought England games would go for a lot more. Or 5,000 spending 40. You can't get much for 40 euro's on a day out, or indeed a weekend in a big city. It sounds like chicken feed to me and considering the scale of city budgets, really penny-pinching. Quite surprising and very disappointing. Is it ominous? I'm afraid so. We'll see, I certainly hope not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 41 minutes ago, pahars said: I suppose it depends how many people it would attract to the area. All it would take is 1,000 people spending over €200 to justify it as a boost to the local economy. I would have thought England games would go for a lot more. If it was that simple sports would be charging 200k a pop for any sports match anywhere. It isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Gordon Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 It makes you wonder why we are playing France in Warrington next month rather than Avignon. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim from Oz Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Actually, Avignon was NOT on the list of the 38 cities and towns that expressed interest in holding games when the event was launched by the French prime minister in January 2022: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/world-cup-news-38-towns-and-cities-bid-to-host-at-france-2025 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pahars Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 3 minutes ago, Damien said: If it was that simple sports would be charging 200k a pop for any sports match anywhere. It isn't. I’m merely suggesting that we shouldn’t undersell our event. The Marie says he could do five events for that much, maybe this is true, but if it’s local people driving to and from a concert it has little value to the local economy. Events that draw people from outside the area are worth a lot more because people spend on a couple of days of hotels/restaurants/bars/taxis/excursions etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 8 minutes ago, Jim from Oz said: Actually, Avignon was NOT on the list of the 38 cities and towns that expressed interest in holding games when the event was launched by the French prime minister in January 2022: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/world-cup-news-38-towns-and-cities-bid-to-host-at-france-2025 Yeah I remember that being discussed on here as a notable absence at the time because Avignon had always drawn such good crowds in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barley Mow Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 28 minutes ago, pahars said: I’m merely suggesting that we shouldn’t undersell our event. The Marie says he could do five events for that much, maybe this is true, but if it’s local people driving to and from a concert it has little value to the local economy. Events that draw people from outside the area are worth a lot more because people spend on a couple of days of hotels/restaurants/bars/taxis/excursions etc. Perhaps it could be an option for hotels/restaurants/bars/taxis/excursion companies to collectively provide the €200,000 if they would directly profit from matches being staged there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pahars Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 (edited) 47 minutes ago, Barley Mow said: Perhaps it could be an option for hotels/restaurants/bars/taxis/excursion companies to collectively provide the €200,000 if they would directly profit from matches being staged there. That’s for their elected representatives to do. 1 hour ago, Jim from Oz said: Actually, Avignon was NOT on the list of the 38 cities and towns that expressed interest in holding games when the event was launched by the French prime minister in January 2022: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/world-cup-news-38-towns-and-cities-bid-to-host-at-france-2025 Which makes you think they just aren’t interested in paying for events. Ignoring the cherry on the top benefits to the people who elected them in the local economy, if they don’t think that they can make an actual game day profit from a tournament that once got 17,500 then maybe they ain’t the kind of people you want to be partnering with. Edited March 24, 2023 by pahars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barley Mow Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, pahars said: That’s for their elected representatives to do. Does it have to be though? The benefits to the businesses would be direct and more significant than those of the commune (via taxation on those businesses, etc). If the elected representatives don't see enough public benefit to make the payment, is there anything stopping other parties from doing so? Edited March 24, 2023 by Barley Mow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 The 200 eruros X 1000 fans is not the full story, though. To pay 200,000 € for the stadium would need to generate an extra margin of 200,000 € would it not, so in my view we're looking at bringing over 500,000. € or more to the local economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audois Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 On 24/03/2023 at 12:00, Damien said: Yeah I remember that being discussed on here as a notable absence at the time because Avignon had always drawn such good crowds in the past. In the 2013 World Cup NZ (Sonny Bill Williams featued) played France at Avignon was a sell out. Half a century since crowds attended "It involves matters much greater than drafting the new rules...the original and existing games have their own powerful appeal to their players and public and have the sentiments which history inspires" - Harold 'Jersey' Flegg 1933 "Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart." - Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959 Si tu( Remi Casty) devais envoyer un fax au Président Guasch? " Un grand bravo pour ce que vous avez fait,et merci de m 'avoir embarqué dans cette aventure" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshmagpie Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 46 minutes ago, audois said: In the 2013 World Cup NZ (Sonny Bill Williams featued) played France at Avignon was a sell out. Half a century since crowds attended What’s the feeling on the ground regarding CDM25 mate? Any word of time frames and build up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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