Extension of State Aid for the French Professional Sports Sector

Partially compensate for the operating losses of ticketing and catering

Decree n ° 2021-1108 of August 23, 2021 published yesterday in the Official Journal of the French Republic, extends, for the first half of 2021, the State aid created by the decree of December 11, 2020 * with the aim of partially compensating for ticket office operating losses and associated catering due to the general measures taken by the administrative authorities, directly or indirectly prohibiting or limiting public reception, to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic.

State aid is reserved for those involved in sport who have organized one or more sporting events or competitions between July 10, 2020 and June 29, 2021 at the latest and is paid according to the terms defined in the decree of August 23, 2021 recalled below.

1 - Actors likely to benefit from this state aid

The beneficiaries of this system are the same as those referred to in the decree of December 11, 2020, namely:

• The sports associations and sports societies that they have set up which cumulatively meet the following two conditions:
  • Participation in professional sports activities organized by a professional league;
  • responsibility for the sale of tickets for access to a sporting event or competition and, where applicable, for the sale or distribution of food or drink;
• The delegated sports federations mentioned in article L.131-14 of the Sports Code which are organizers of sports events or competitions in which the national team selections participate or at the end of which a national title is issued, or organizers of international sporting events or competitions;
• Professional leagues set up in application of article L. 132-1 of the Sports Code;
• The organizers of sports events mentioned in article L. 331-5 of the Sports Code.

2 - Calculation of compensated revenue losses

For the calculation, it is taken into account on the one hand:

• loss of revenue during the period July 10, 2020 to July 29, 2021;

And on the other hand : 

• for the period between July 10, 2020 and December 31, 2020, the revenues realized over the same period during the last closed financial year or for sports events or competitions which have been postponed, or have been postponed on a date other than that initially planned for the previous year, the income generated during this event or sports competition organized during the previous closed financial year;
• for the period between 1^er January 2021 and the date on which the measures mentioned in article 1 of the decree of December 11, 2020 ceased to be applied, and no later than June 29, 2021, the revenue generated over the same period during the prior last closed financial year or for sports events or competitions which have been postponed, or have been postponed to a date other than the one initially planned compared to the previous year, the income generated during this event or competition sport organized during the penultimate closed financial year.

The decree of 23 August 2021 also specifies that the loss of gross operating surplus likely to be offset by the granting of state aid corresponds to the difference between:

• On the one hand, the gross operating surplus as identified by the accounting documents relating to the following two periods:
  • that between July 10 and December 31, 2020;
  • the one between the 1^er January and the date on which the measures mentioned in Article 1 ceased to be applied, no later than June 29, 2021;
• On the other hand, the gross operating surplus established by the accounting documents relating to the same periods for the years mentioned in 2 ° of II of article 2 amended. 
   

3 - The terms of allocation of state aid

To obtain the allocation and payment of state aid, the beneficiary likely to be eligible sends his request to the Sports Directorate of the Ministry responsible for Sports, by any means allowing it to be given a certain date:

• No later than December 31, 2020, for the assistance requested for the period from July 10 to December 31, 2020;
• At the latest one month after the publication of the decree 23 August 2021 for the assistance requested under the period from 1^er January 2021 until the date on which the measures referred to in Article 1^er of the decree ceased to be applied and no later than June 29, 2021. 

State aid is the subject of three payments allocated to the eligible beneficiary by decision of the sports directorate according to the following modalities:

• A first payment, which cannot exceed 70% of the estimated amount of the loss of revenue for the period from July 10 to December 31, 2020;
• A second payment, which may not exceed 70% of the estimated amount of the loss of revenue for the period from 1^er January 2021 on the date on which the measures mentioned in Article 1 ceased to be applied and no later than June 29, 2021;
• If applicable, a third payment corresponding to the sum of the balances of the two periods defined in article 2 of the decree, calculated after examination of the loss of gross operating surplus for these two periods. 

The accounting documents making it possible to assess the loss of gross operating surplus must be sent to the Sports Department by the eligible beneficiary no later than December 31, 2021.

The rate of calculation of the maximum amount of State aid corresponds to 15% of the loss of revenue for each eligible beneficiary.

The maximum amount of State aid is set at 5 million euros for each eligible beneficiary.

The maximum amount of State aid paid is set at 5 million euros for each period referred to in 2 ° of II of article 2 of the decree of 23 August 2021 and for each eligible beneficiary.

Finally, it is specified that the total amount of aid paid, in the wording resulting from decree n ° 2021-1108 of 23 August 2021 and decree n ° 2021-310 of 24 March 2021 instituting aid aimed at compensating fixed costs not covered by companies whose activity is particularly affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, cannot exceed 14 million euros for the two periods referred to in 2 ° of II of article 2 of the decree of 23 August 2021 and for each eligible beneficiary.

* Decree n ° 2020-1571 of December 11, 2020 creating state aid to compensate for the loss of revenue from professional sport due to the measures taken to deal with the covid-1 epidemic