Ligue 1 or Ligue 2, the renovation of the Meinau stadium will take place. The president of RC Strasbourg confirmed this on Tuesday morning. “We are in difficulty at the moment but our determination is total […] Support for this project is essential if Racing wants to progress, ”launched Marc Keller, whose team is flirting with the relegation zone (15th with 5 days to go).
The construction site will start this summer and will last three years, according to the established schedule. The project is “100% the same” as that announced in January 2021. With one huge difference: the budget has meanwhile gone from 100 million euros excluding taxes to… 160 million euros, still excluding taxes. The fault, in large part, to inflation.
Funding still largely public
“We were not happy to see the price increase but it is the reality of today”, explained the president of the Grand-Est region Franck Leroy. “Everyone had to do a little more for the file to go to the end,” added Marc Keller. His club will thus contribute up to 9.1 million euros, while the initial financing was exclusively public. It remains largely so since the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg will bring 75.8 million, the Grand-Est 37.5 million while the city and the European Community of Alsace will complete with 18.8 million each. The RCSA will finance, in addition, 14 million “commercial spaces”.
These should in particular take place in the large fan zone provided in front of the stadium. At the heart of the project, it will be able to accommodate “between 5,000 and 6,000 people on match nights”, twice as much as today. The South stand will be completely replaced, in order to increase the capacity of the den from 26,000 seats currently to 32,000. With some reductions in gauge during the works, i.e. 20,000 minimum places during the 2024-2025 season.
“Building the Racing of Tomorrow”
“That’s why we have limited our number of subscribers to 19,000”, further detailed Marc Keller, insisting on the need for this renovation. “Today, we reached the ceiling of our stadium income by using every cm². We have to improve the reception of spectators. Renovating the Meinau means building the Racing of tomorrow. »
With, the mayor of Strasbourg was there to remind us, the most ecological approach possible. “We pushed the cursor to the maximum at this level. The project is exemplary, we are sure of high environmental quality”, rejoiced Jeanne Barseghian (EELV), also announcing that “650 trees” will be planted “in vegetated surroundings”. She also hopes to see more spectators abandon their vehicles. In this sense, the tramway service should be reinforced, the nearby Krimmeri station much better used and 3,000 bicycle spaces created. Unlike parking lots for cars, the already reduced number of which will not be increased. “It’s a useful and realistic project,” concluded the President of Racing.