La Creuse had said no. Haute-Vienne and Lot-et-Garonne also. Since then, several departments have made it known that they do not wish to welcome the passage of the Olympic flame on their land because of the price imposed by the Paris 2024 organizing committee. The entry ticket set at 150,000 euros has visibly cooled several communities that declined the proposal. According to the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics, “a very large majority” of the territories showed interest in hosting the flame.
In Haute-Vienne, the vice-president in charge of sports, Thierry Miguel, judges the “symbolic character very well but the exorbitant cost: 180,000 euros with taxes, not to mention the activities at the expense of the community”. He says he is “shocked” that the same sum is requested from all departments. “I am thinking of the difference in means that there may be between Hauts-de-Seine and Creuse,” he explained.
An amount “in line” with the other events
The organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Cojo), ensures that a “very large majority of departments have already welcomed this approach”. He also specified that the relay is “funded for the most part by the committee and its partners” and that the 150,000 euros requested from the departments served as a “complement” to cross “the maximum number of territories”. The amount is “in line” with that requested for “other events of this type”.
In the West, the Loire-Atlantique but also the Côtes d’Armor refused to pay the entry ticket. “We remain a department labeled Terre de Jeux 2024. But we have chosen to invest this sum in other activities related to sport”, explained the department. Orne also refused. On the contrary, in Mayenne, the department is very upbeat.
“We have municipalities labeled Terre de Jeux, we are the first department in terms of licensees reported to the population. It’s a way to enhance the territories, “said Vincent Saulnier, vice-president of the Mayenne departmental council. He considers the price “reasonable”, especially since it is “scalable over three years”.