Stade de France: GL Events announces that it has been awarded the concession

The Lyon-based GL Events group announced on the evening of Monday, May 12, that it had been awarded the Stade de France operating concession by the French government for a period of thirty years, after months of proceedings, according to a press release.

Preferred over the current Vinci-Bouygues real estate consortium, in place since 1995, GL Events will manage the stadium located in Seine-Saint-Denis starting August 5. Before then, it will have to formally sign the concession contract with the French government, owner of the Stade de France. Contacted by Agence France-Presse, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Sports had not yet confirmed this.

"The GL Events teams, which organize and host large-scale international sporting and cultural events, will be ready for the first concerts in August 2025 at the Stade de France," assured the events group headed by Olivier Ginon. Two concerts by the band AC/DC are already scheduled for the beginning of the month.

The procedure dragged on. The French government announced in early December 2024 that it had selected the Lyon-based company GL Events for exclusive negotiations. Arguing that there had been unequal treatment between the candidates, the consortium holding the current contract, two-thirds owned by Vinci and one-third by Bouygues, had filed an interim application with the administrative court requesting the cancellation of the call for tenders launched in March 2023 to select the new stadium concessionaire. The Montreuil administrative court rejected its appeal in early February, ruling that the French government had not failed to meet its obligations regarding publicity and competition.

GL Events has already held discussions with the French football and rugby federations regarding the organization of French team matches in Saint-Denis.