The sports movement recognizes that he “must make his revolution” while the triptych on which he has been resting for sixty years – volunteering, contributions of licensees, public subsidies – is undermined.
By Philippe Le Coeur
“The big challenge is to succeed in strengthening our sports model.” This sentence, the Minister of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP), Amélie Oudéa-Castera, has repeated it several times since its appointment, In May 2022. It translated a reality: while, at the invite of the President of the Republic, the government seized the occasion of Paris 2024 to mobilize on the development of sports practice, the traditional “vehicle” of the latter , associative sport, is weakened. His ability to meet the different challenges he faces is questioned. Like the sustainability of his model, based on the volunteer triptych, contributions, subsidies.
With 365,000 structures (11 % of which are employers) and 14.4 million licensees at the end of 2021, the associative world remains an “essential element” of sports, as noted by the Center de Droit and D ‘Sports economy (CDES) in a study published in May 2022. But this model, inherited from the 1960s, already heckled before the COVVI-19 crisis, was a little more badly undermined. It shows “signs of breath” and is “called into question in its practices and its governance”, notes Alain Tourdjman, director of studies and prospective of the BPCE group.
This is manifested by the erosion of volunteering, the compaction of the number of licensees and the difficulty in responding to the evolution of practices (more sport well-being and leisure, more flexibility on schedules and prices …) . To this are added the difficulties of local authorities, first financial support: their expenses in favor of sport inflated by 1.5 billion euros in 2022 (+ 12 %) under the effect of inflation, which could lead them to force their commitment, according to a BPCE study.
The sports associative model as it has existed for sixty years has lived? In any case, it is at a pivotal moment. “To save and keep the basic model of the sport to which we hold” – sport for all, accessible, place of socialization -, “you have to change lots”, advances David Lazarus, co -president of the Sport and Jop of the ‘Association of mayors of France. “Transformation needs are now,” supports Vincent Saulnier, secretary general of the National Association of Elected Elected officials in charge of Sport (Andes).
“We have not lost thousands of clubs! The associative fabric becomes aware of the challenges, tempers Sébastien Poirer, vice-president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), in charge of economic transformation. But, yes , the clubs must make their revolution. “With Amélie Oudéa-Castera, the Minister of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP), we consider that” there is the possibility of evolving without making a clean sweep ” , insisting that “professionalizing” this associative environment, “jostled”, is “at the heart of our roadmap”.
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