February 15 – Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais have announced plans to build a second 15,000-capacity stadium next to its Groupama Stadium which was completed in 2016 in time for the France 2016 European Championships.
The new venue would be used for sporting and cultural events with crowds between 10-15,000 and would drive the club’s revenues towards €400 million and into the top 20 of the mist commercially successful clubs in Europe, said Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas.
The stadium timetable is for plans to be presented later this year with completion expected in three years.
“We’re giving ourselves between two to three years for it to be operational. “Olympique Lyonnais has the know-how and the financial means, so we would like to be able to present the project before next summer. We’ll also determine the site’s location and for this we’re meeting with elected officials from Décines and Meyzieu,” said Aulas.
Aulas was speaking at a press conference detailing Lyon’s financial performance for the first half of the 2018/19 season that have seen pre-tax earnings reach €53.9 million with an operating income of €26.3 million.
Talking about the stadium plan, he said: “This should enable us to generate €400 million of turnover and thus join the ranks of the top 20 most successful European clubs.”
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