Central government aid
for sports
Executive summary
2022 Annual Public Report
2
At the beginning of 2020, there were 112,000 businesses (generating €78bn in revenue
and employing 333,000 people) and 360,000 non-profit organisations (with a cumulative
budget of €13bn and employing 115,000 people) in the sports world. The pandemic has
severely affected both the commercial sector and professional and amateur sport, with an
estimated €20bn worth of lost sales in 2020, prompting large
-scale measures by the public
authorities.
Controlled crisis management as part of the new governance of sport
The management of the pandemic has taken place against the backdrop of a reform in
the public governance of sport. The Sports Directorate (DS) has refocused on its sovereign
missions and the recently created national sports agency (ANS) is responsible for steering the
main universal and top-level sport support systems.
The DS and the ANS have provided coordinated responses to identify the sports world’s
needs and help frontline stakeholders to implement specific measures. At the same time, the
federations and the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) have acted as
an interface between central government, clubs and their members. However, the rapid
change in applicable rules, brought about by the pandemic situation, has put pressure on non-
profit organisations and clubs, which have in some cases found themselves unable to continue
operating.
Sectoral measures in addition to common law aid
In addition to common law measures, federations, non-profit organisations and clubs
have received specific central government aid. Until the start of autumn 2020, these remained
limited to DS operators (€2.31m) and a €15m solidarity fund rolled out by the ANS. From
September 2020 to April 2021, central government made multiple announcements of sectoral
aid, totalling €506m.
These successive mechanisms created a feeling of overload for recipients, while the
speed of their roll-out could only be achieved at the cost of reduced investigation measures.
3
Support measures for the sports movement during the pandemic
* On the date this report was published, just €100m of the €130m had been budgeted.
Source: Court of Accounts
4
Measures primarily focused on emergency measures with no structural
ambition or audit resources
The Court’s investigation highlighted a degree of confusion between the emergency
measures and the recovery measures, the latter having mainly been used to complement the
former. It also found that coordination with local government authorities and federations was
insufficient, which resulted in multiple mechanisms.
The Court also noted the lack of any real targeting of recipients. This finding illustrates
the shortcomings of the financial monitoring of federations, their territorial bodies and clubs.
In addition, federal measures and aid from local government authorities may have
overlapped with the goals of national measures. The DS is also unable to have an overview of
the aid paid to each structure and therefore to identify any cumulative or windfall effects.
In addition, the aid was paid out unconditionally, with the large amounts giving central
government a solid basis for asking the sports movement to implement structural reforms of
its business model (search for new audiences, offer diversification, further professional
development, support for digitisation).
Lastly, the Court’s investigation found that the audits regarding the allocation of aid were
insufficient due to constrained timetables, a lack of staff and criteria for awarding aid that were
sometimes too general. This situation was exacerbated by insufficient a posteriori controls.
It is essential to develop, both in the federations and at the ANS and the DS, a genuine
management control and audit function. Beyond that, central government is faced with the
challenge of more effectively using its power of delegation over the federations. With the
delegation contract, created by the law of 24 August 2021, consolidating compliance with the
values of the Republic, it must reassert the rights and obligations conferred on the sports
federations granted prerogatives of public power and put in place annual strategic dialogue.
Audit recommendations
Accordingly, the Court makes the following audit recommendations:
1.
establish as soon as possible a consolidated distribution of the emergency measures and
the recovery plan rolled out by central government, assess the impacts and identify any
windfall and cumulative effects (
DS, ANS, DB
);
2.
strengthen the means of monitoring and auditing the allocation and payment of aid (
DS,
ANS
);
3.
implement financial monitoring of the federations’ territorial structures to consolidate their
national, territorial and federal aid and assess their financial position (
DS, ANS,
federations
).