A breath of fresh air for Paris 2024. On Wednesday June 22, the signing of Carrefour as a premium partner – the highest level of sponsors – of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games undoubtedly relieved the commercial teams of the committee. organization (Cojop), as the candidates ready to pay tens of millions of euros have not been jostling in recent months.

Alexandre Bompard, the CEO of the French food distribution giant, and Tony Estanguet, the boss of Cojop, made the announcement at the Carrefour hypermarket in Drancy, whose letters of the sign had been adorned with the Olympic colors and inside which a small athletics track now welcomes customers in the central aisle. Negotiations between the two parties, launched more than two years ago, had been delayed by the Covid-19.

“Carrefour and Paris 2024 is an alliance that has the strength of evidence and the taste of passion,” rejoiced Alexandre Bompard on Wednesday, in front of an audience of athletes – including Teddy Riner, leader of the team of distributor-supported athletes, corporate executives and sports movement leaders. It is both an immense pleasure and a great responsibility, with our popular roots, our 5,000 stores in France, with our logo in the colors of France. »

Tony Estanguet highlighted the French group’s “commitment to healthy and sustainable food”, which “embodies the ambition of Paris 2024 to make these Games a success, the success of French excellence”.

The last premium partnership was almost a year ago

Concretely, Carrefour will provide, in addition to a cash contribution – “majority”, we insist, on the Cojop side -, fresh and organic products (fruits, vegetables, cereal products, meat, fish and seafood) which will be used to prepare meals for athletes in the Olympic Village. If the amount of the partnership concluded is not known – the Cojop as Carrefour refuse to give figures – the entry ticket for a premium sponsor is estimated between 100 million and 140 million euros.

Carrefour’s announcement comes opportunely the day before the Paris 2024 executive office, during which the latest changes to the map of Olympic sites, a progress report on partnership income or even the multi-annual budget review at the end of the year.

The last premium partnership of Paris 2024 dates back almost a year, with the signing in July 2021 of the pharmaceutical group Sanofi, following those of BPCE, EDF and Orange. This expectation raised fears of the impossibility for the organizers of the Games to achieve their objective of 1.088 billion euros in domestic partnerships. “A realistic objective” announced during the candidacy of Paris, which has become “a real challenge”, liked to recall, in recent months, Tony Estanguet.

At the end of 2021, the Cojop claimed to have secured some 715 million euros. With the contribution of the food retail giant, Paris 2024 is approaching the milestone of 80% of the expected 1.1 billion that it has set for the end of the year. “Looking for another rank 1 [partner] would be good,” says Pulse, the headquarters of the organizing committee in Saint-Denis. “I think we’ll get there, I’ve never had any doubts about our ability to get there”, positive Tony Estanguet who does not fail to point out that Paris 2024, two years from the opening ceremony, has already collected 30% more partnerships (in value) compared to London 2012.

The inflationary context fueled by the war in Ukraine does not seem, for the moment, to thwart the plans of the organizers: in addition to minor partners, a large luxury group is expected to join the circle of main sponsors; he would only wait for the validation of the opening ceremony to officially announce it.