In an interview with "Le Monde", Beatrice Barbusse, secretary general of the French Handball Federation and lecturer in sociology at Paris-Est Créteil University, analyzes the possible consequences on women's sports of the crisis caused by the epidemic of coronavirus. "This period can be favorable for the emergence of a" sports feminism "", said the former president of the US Ivry men's club (2017-2012) and the National Center for the Development of Sport (2015-2017).
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The current health crisis is compounded by an economic crisis. In this context, is women's professional sport threatened?
The crisis will add vulnerability where it already existed. The major risk is linked to the recency of female professional sport. According to the clubs, everything will depend on their greater or lesser dependence, on the one hand on public subsidies, on the other hand on private sponsors. Or even their dependence on men's sport, like in football where a large part of the women's first division teams benefit from the wealth of professional men's clubs.
What is the balance between public and private funding today?
Professionalization mechanisms have changed very quickly over the past decade. As a sport becomes more professional, there is a privatization mechanism for revenues, as was also the case earlier for the men's championships.
That is to say ?
In a 2017 report, the Center for Sports Law and Economics established that public subsidies occupied the largest share of revenue for the French women's basketball, handball and volleyball championships: between 49% and 62%, during the 2014-2015 season.
For handball clubs, for example, the largest share of revenue now comes from private sponsors: 40% on average in their forecast budget for the 2018-2019 season. The ticket office also increased to reach 15%, which gives it an interesting place.
At the same time, the share of public subsidies has dropped to 36%. But still no recipe linked to television broadcasts. For the women's handball championship, it is even the opposite: until the end of the season we were forced to pay to produce broadcasts (on the chain "Sport in France") ! Finally, there is also an “other revenue” item, which notably includes membership fees.
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