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Paris Saint-Germain and the City of Paris are at odds over the future of PSG’s historic Parc des Princes stadium. The QSI-owned club wishes to purchase their current location in order to begin expansion plans.
Currently, the stadium’s 48,000-seat capacity pales in comparison to other European stadiums. Barcelona will begin construction on their 100,000-capacity Spotify Nou Camp, Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu is nearing completion, and the majority of top English and German clubs are based in 50,000-plus arenas.
However, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has ruled out a sale, stating that the statium is “an exceptional piece of heritage for Parisians,” putting all parties at odds. PSG celebrated a century of sold-out home games last October.
The PSG management will not be able to play in a 70.000-seater stadium. According to the outlet, the club requested several architectural studies, but none of them discovered “the magic formula.” Worse, a 60,000-seater Parc des Princes appears unattainable. Because the Paris ringroad runs beneath the Parc, lowering the pitch is impossible. Elevating the stands’ height and thus modifying the stadium’s framework is also impossible because the pitch is listed as a historical landmark. According to Le Parisien, the only way to increase capacity is to tilt the grandstands closer to the pitch. However, this will hardly bring capacity up to the 55,000 mark.
PSG is currently considering another option: converting the Parc des Princes into a cutting-edge arena and expanding its VIP hospitality boxes. The 5,000-seat box seats account for half of the ground total ticket revenue. However, leaving Parc des Princes and Paris to construct a new, ultramodern stadium with the desired capacity is not out of the question.
