Announced in 2018 the day after the second European title in the MHB Champions League, the future great hall of Montpellier should be made available to the club within four to five years.
The MHB has one of the biggest achievements in French collective sport, but it has failed to compete with Paris, France, for several years.
The future hall will be built near the historic René Bougnol hall (recently renamed FDI Stadium).
The future 5,000-seat Montpellier Handball hall should see the light of day by 2025 or 2026. After months of discussion, the location has been stopped. It will not be at Odysseum (where the eco-circus is currently located), nor next to the Louis-Nicollin stadium (in the south of the metropolis), as the former majority had envisaged. But in Bougnol, or rather below, on the current stabilized ground, currently used by the MUC, in particular.
This equipment was announced in June 2018, a few days after the second victory in the Champions League of Montpellier, in a stuttering of history.
In 2003, Georges Frêche, then mayor (PS) of the city had already announced the creation of a new room.
The Sud de France Arena (then called the large hall) was created in 2010 ... but quickly proved unusable for the club.
Rental costs impose a breakeven point on around 6,000 spectators, a figure reached for just a few posters in the year.
For the exclusive use of Montpellier Handball
Not to mention the difficulty in reserving slots for the hand. Occitanie Events, the managing company of the Sud de France Arena, gives priority to major concerts and events that are essential to strive for financial balance. "Two years ago, for example, we could only have two dates out of the seventeen we requested," recalls the president of MHB, Julien Deljarry.
This future hall with a capacity of 5,000 seats (i.e. 1,000 less than the announcements of 2018) must be reserved for the exclusive use of MontpellierHandball.
The institution, one of the biggest winners in French collective sport (two Champions Leagues in particular), is impatiently awaiting it.
Ticket sales, but also boxes or the development of merchandising, should enable it to generate profits that are partly reinvested in the first team.
“We cannot accommodate enough audiences and partners in Bougnol, which limits our revenue,” summarizes Julien Deljarry.
50 million mainly financed by the metropolis of Montpellier
The equipment is estimated at 50 million euros by the metropolis of Montpellier which will be the beneficiary and awaits aid from the Region and the State to help finance it. It will be served nearby by line 5 of the tram which will pass a few hundred meters below, route de Mende. Public transport will be essential to get there when the car parks are already saturated. "In Montpellier, we were late. We need new sports equipment so that the sport of Montpellier holds its place", says the mayor Michaël Delafosse (PS). Several cities in France, including Aix-en-Provence and Nantes, have taken the lead over Montpellier in recent years.
The legendary René-Bougnol hall (renamed FDI Stadium for a few weeks) with 2,800 seats will be kept.
"One day, there will be a large number of people there to support a women's team," predicts Michaël Delafosse.
The mayor of Montpellier wishes to see the emergence of a high-level women's team.
Currently the women's HB Montpellier / Frontignan is fighting with limited means in the women's National 1 (the third women's level, the highest amateur level).
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