With less than 600 days to go until the Paris 2024 Games, the figure already looks good. But it could increase even more in the next two years. According to a study by the BPCE banking group, the first premium partner of the OCOG (photo above), the sports sector is worth 64 billion euros in France. This represents 2.6% of French GDP. Note: the figure put forward by the BPCE (Banque Populaire Caisse d’Epargne) is for 2019, the banking group having wished that its evaluation not be affected by the effects of two years of health crisis. The sports sector now represents the same weight in the French economy as the hotel and restaurant sector. In detail, 52.7 billion euros are contributed by household consumption (purchase of sports articles, gym memberships, sports betting, ticketing, school sports, association activities, etc.). The rest, i.e. 12 billion euros, comes from investments in sport by companies, the public sector and associations. The BPCE study also points out the existence in France of 128,500 private companies specialised in sport, the vast majority of which are micro-enterprises. Finally, the study highlights the economic impact of local authorities. Their expenditure on sport is almost twice as high as that of the State. They currently own 81% of the sports facilities in the country.
