Cyrille de la Morinerie // Photo credit: Franck FIFE/AFP
The PSG is now reportedly in search of a new stadium. This is implied by a new letter sent by the club to the Île-de-France region to find a location to build its future stadium. Is it a pressure tactic against the Paris city hall or a credible hypothesis?
The Paris Saint-Germain is seeking a location. The club has sent a letter to the Île-de-France region to find the place where it plans to build its new stadium. Does this mean that PSG wants to leave the Parc des Princes?
“It is Paris for all the supporters of PSG”
This seems like a pressure tactic from the PSG club management. It is hard to believe that PSG will ever leave the Parc des Princes. It would be like Real Madrid leaving the iconic Santiago Bernabéu stadium. In reality, with this letter, the Paris club is throwing another challenge to the city hall of Paris, which still refuses to sell the stadium.
Building a new stadium is very complicated. It is necessary to find a town with a land area of over 50 hectares close to public transportation. After a frenzy of applications, even the most unlikely such as Châteaudun, located more than two hours away by car from the capital, some cities are starting to slow down.
This is the case of Gonesse, in Val-d’Oise. Its mayor, Jean-Pierre Blazy, does not want his town to be, in a way, taken for a ride: “I do not want us to be sold a dream again. We are in a showdown between the club and the city of Paris. I know that for all the supporters, PSG is Paris. It is not Gonesse, nor other cities that are officially candidates”. So while Montigny-le-Bretonneux, near Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, has positioned itself to host the new PSG stadium, gaining some good publicity in the process, others have given up, like Saint-Germain-en-Laye, whose name is still associated with the Paris club.
