For rent in the Parc des Princes
©IMAGO
Around 11 million people live in Paris and the surrounding area – making the French capital the fourth largest metropolitan region in Europe. However, PSG’s Parc des Princes, which has a capacity of 48,500 spectators, is only the fourth largest stadium in Ligue 1. Club boss Nasser Al-Khelaïfi has wanted to expand the arena for years, but his plans have been thwarted by the city administration. Now he’s talking about saying goodbye.
“If I listen to my heart, we won’t go. But today everyone in Europe has stadiums with 100,000, 80,000, 90,000 seats. We need them, otherwise we are dead,” Al-Khelaïfi was quoted as saying by “RMC Sport”. It’s not quite like that, because only BVB, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona can play in a sold-out crowd in front of over 80,000 fans. In Europe’s top five leagues, 23 clubs have a larger stadium than PSG, which is the eighth most valuable team in the world with a squad value of 893 million euros. In the 2nd Bundesliga, eight clubs have a larger arena than the Parisians.
“Is this a question of life and death? Yes. We are in France, but we also play in Europe. We play in the Champions League every year. If we want to be on equal terms with the other clubs, and when it comes to financial fair play… We need our stadium. We have no other solution.” The city has refused to sell the Parc des Princes to PSG for years – the top club plays there for rent. “We need a stadium that will be ready in 3-4 years, we have no time to lose, otherwise we will be behind other clubs in Europe,” warns Al-Khelaïfi, who is not said to have the best relationship with the Paris city administration.
PSG earns the second most money from home games in Europe
Despite an average of “only” 46,417 spectators per game in 2023, PSG earned the second most money from its home games of all clubs after Barça. The average ticket price was around 140 euros per fan due to numerous premium offers. The French champions recorded revenue of 6.6 million euros per game.
According to rumors, the Saint-Cloud racecourse is a possible location for a new PSG stadium. This is around 15 minutes away from Prinzenpark by car – it takes around 40 minutes by public transport. If they move from the Parc des Princes to a new arena a little further out, the club runs the risk of losing out on some of their supporters. That would make it difficult to regularly fill a larger arena without big names like Mbappé, Neymar or Messi. The most valuable professional in Ligue 1 is currently PSG’s Bradley Barcola with a market value of 65 million euros.
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