The months of December come one after the other for the COJO Paris 2024. And, with them, the presentation of the budget for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. But Tony Estanguet and his team will not complain, the results of the exercise are not routine.
At the end of 2022, the board of directors was shaken by the announcement of a 10% increase in the organizing committee's budget. Four hundred million euros. Strong. Twelve months later, the same actors met on Monday December 11 to discover the new figures. They didn't disappoint anyone.
Less than eight months before the event, the COJO presented a much more reassuring report. With a budget increased to 4,397 billion, the cost of the Games increased in twelve months by “only” 17 million euros. In these difficult times, performance is not small.
The COJO holds the bar, therefore. So much the better. But the organizers recognize it, as if they still feared the threat of bad weather: “ THEbalance remains fragile, we will have to remain vigilant until the end. »
The reason ? The use of more than half of the contingency reserve of 275 million euros. Sheltered for a long time, started in 2022 with caution and parsimony, it has melted over the last twelve months. The OCOG clarified: 154 million euros were spent, mainly on temporary equipment, for energy, or even for the artistic part of the opening ceremony on the Seine. The reserve still exists, but it now stands at 121 million euros.
The COJO insists: the next three or four months remain perilous in purely accounting terms. “ They are the last risk zone, says he. We will see if the 121 million euros give us flexibility and margin, or if they are quickly consumed. »
On the revenue side, the drawer allocated to private partnerships is almost full. Level 1, premium sponsors, is complete since the long-announced and regularly postponed entry of the luxury group LVMH. The middle level, the official partners, is not far from being there either. There are barely a few places left for the top floor of the pyramid, where the many official supporters are stored.
Result: a loot of 1,2 billion euros, or 97% of a marketing revenue target established at the end of 2022 at 1,24 billion euros.
Disappointment, however, in the hospitality department. The package marketing program – tickets and stay, even plane – produces results below expectations. The COJO has revised its ambitions downward by 20 million euros. But specifying that the figures – a forecast of 173 million euros – remained at high levels “ stratospheric, never reached in France. »
