Roland Garros Expansion Threatened

Written by: Staff on 13th February 2013

Roland Garros Expansion Threatened

epa03259548 General view of Court Philippe Chatrier during the final match Rafael Nadal of Spain against Novak Djokovic for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 11 June 2012. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

The expansion of Roland Garros isn’t going as smoothly as planned. Paris’ public rapporteur (the government appointed person who makes reports on various issues) recommended once again to the Paris Administrative Court that it cancel an agreement signed between the City of Paris and the French Tennis Federation (FFT) for the modernization of the Roland Garros site.

According to French Tennis Magazine, three different associations have launched an appeal against the City of Paris, which signed an agreement with FFT to expand its footprint in the Botanical Gardens next door.

The FFT plans include renovating and putting a retractable roof on the main stadium, Phillipe Chatrier, which will lead to night tennis for the first time.

The site will expand across a small street into the Botanical Gardens, build a new training center, also renovating the second stadium, Suzanne Lenglen, and installing a show court with 5,000 seats that will be surrounded by greenhouses. The expansion is estimated to cost around $295 million euros, ($392 million dollars). The size of grounds of the tournament will be expanded by around 60% as officials try to open up its crowded walkways.

Currently, Roland Garros is paying the city of Paris 1.5 million euros per year as a fee to host the event, which will increase to around 3 million euros between 2012 and 2015, and then 7 million in 2016, when the roof should be on Chatrier.

The new project will get 20 million euros from the city of Paris and another 20 million euros from the federal government.

Tournament director Gilbert Ysern estimates that 250 million euros is pumped into the local economy annually by the tournament, which attracts 25 percent of its spectators from outside of the economy.

Roland Garros revenues are estimate to be around 60 million annually.

In December, the public rapporteur ruled the July decision to authorize the City to sign the agreement with the FFT illegal. The grounds of annulment were: the lack of information given to the city; the so-called low amount of money that will be given to the city; and the violation of environmental restrictions when it comes to moving into the Botanical Gardens. There are also problems with a public works contract. The president of the Paris Administrative Court is expected to rule within two weeks.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: FFT, French Tennis Magazine, Paris tennis news, Roland Garros, Sports, Tennis News