LVMH's Arnault family faces off-pitch challenges at new Paris soccer club

By Tassilo Hummel

PARIS (Reuters) - French billionaire Bernard Arnault's family is struggling to secure a deal on a much-needed new stadium for its recently acquired football team Paris FC, with compensation and other costs proving a sticking point in discussions, sources say. 

The family of the owner of French luxury giant LVMH, has been in talks since late last year with rugby team Stade Francais to share its Jean-Bouin stadium in western Paris to replace Paris FC's current venue, a run-down athletics stadium east of the city.  

The Arnault family announced the acquisition of the second-division club in November, teaming up with sports management experts Red Bull for their first foray into the world's most popular sport.

Antoine Arnault, Bernard's eldest son who spearheaded the investment, started discussions with Stade Francais soon after the deal was announced but so far has made no headway, said four sources with knowledge of the matter.

The negotiations centre on compensation for replacing the Jean-Bouin stadium's synthetic lawn, which will result in higher maintenance costs and some lost revenue for Stade Francais, adding to other issues including security and scheduling constraints, the sources said.

The rugby club initially asked Paris FC for an annual rent of almost 5 million euros - well over a third of the soccer club's 2023 annual turnover - to play its home matches in the stadium, said one of the sources. Another source said the latest demand was lower, around 4 million. 

Antoine Arnault, the city of Paris - which owns the stadium - and Stade Francais managing director Thomas Lombard all declined to comment.

Paris FC President Pierre Ferracci, whose team is well-positioned to make it to France's top-tier league next season, told RMC Sport radio last week he hoped for a stadium deal by February.

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Just opposite the Parc des Princes, home of League 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain, the Jean-Bouin stadium is closer to the city centre and has 20,000 seats and the potential to create state-of-the-art hospitality areas.

Red Bull global soccer head Juergen Klopp, the former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund manager, has also criticised Paris FC's current venue, saying it did not allow for much atmosphere and reminded him of his early days as a small-town coach.

Paris FC is third in the Ligue 2 standings, on par with second-placed Metz, with the top two teams granted automatic promotion to the top flight while the three next best teams qualify for playoffs.

An overhaul as planned by the Arnault family could eventually turn it into a potential rival to PSG, owned by Qatar Sports Investments.

The family's well-known deep pockets are expected to make negotiations in other areas - including player transfers - complicated too, said one of the sources with close ties to the club.

French media have reported Paris FC was valued at 90 million euros, a figure Antoine said in November was not "too far from the truth". The valuation was multiple times higher than what minority shareholders had paid to enter the capital roughly three years ago. 

The Arnaults so far have bought out all but one former minority shareholder in the club who rejected their offer, two of the sources said. 

($1 = 0.9535 euros)

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Dominique Patton and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)