Monaco: Lyon supporters present at the meeting
Facing Monaco, this Saturday evening, the OL stadium should fill up and display the highest attendance since the start of the season. Despite a tenth place in the standings, the Lyon supporters are very present to encourage their team.
This Saturday, OL welcomes Monaco as part of the 10e day of the French Ligue 1 championship. A clash between two heavyweights of French football, in the duel last year for a place on the podium and a rivalry that will still be present this season to get access to the box. OL-Monaco is also the first big poster at Décines since the start of this 2020-21 financial year. Brest, Clermont, Strasbourg, Troyes and Lorient have followed one another in Lyon for an average of 32,627 spectators since the start of the season. Facing Monaco, no less than 50,000 spectators are expected to witness the shock of this 10e daytime.
Despite a tenth place in the standings and sawtooth results since the start of the championship, OL supporters are present, to the great joy of Xavier Pierrot, the deputy director in charge of the OL stadium: “When we look at the next two matches on Saturday against Monaco and against Lens in two weeks, we are targeting crowds of more than 50,000 people. So that will make another 100,000 supporters over two games, that reassures us, he declares to olympique-et-lyonnais.com. The kops were not present on the first dates in August, now they are back. We hear a lot of positive feedback on the atmosphere that has reigned inside the stadium since the start of the season. The staff and the players also talk about it regularly. For us, the lights are more and more green “.
Covid and vaccination slowed the return of supporters to the stadium
For more than a year now, France and the world have lived to the rhythm of the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. After a year away from the stadiums, supporters can find the spans under certain conditions, including this one of the most: the possession of a health pass. Indeed, without this precious sesame, it is impossible to attend a sporting event. “We had a rather complicated start to the year because it was still loaded with uncertainties. It is important to remember that the Covid crisis was not far behind us when we launched the subscription campaign. was not sure that everything would be fine, even if we were confident about the vaccination campaign, Explain Xavier Pierrot. The public was initially hesitant to subscribe because it is making a commitment over several months, and in this period it is more complicated to make a commitment. We are still a little below compared to the last year before Covid but we are getting closer, which is a great satisfaction “.
An offer for subscribers for matches against Marseille, Saint-Etienne and PSG
Faced with the enthusiasm to drive this match against Monaco, a flexi offer will be set up by the Rhone club thus making it possible to “adapt to a demand that is less commitment over time”, grant Xavier Pierrot. In addition, the deputy director of the enclosure located in Décines details the contours of Ticketing the offer for subscribers concerning matches against Marseille, Saint-Etienne and Paris Saint-Germain. “There is a pricing which is the addition of the prices of the three matches since the interest of this pack is to have the assurance of attending these three matches which are highly sought after. We also wanted to focus on our subscribers, he announces. They have the option of purchasing additional packs at a greatly reduced rate compared to the full price. It is also a way for subscribers to introduce friends to the stadium during parties with a great atmosphere “.
Faced with the probable future travel bans for supporters, especially during the matches against Marseille and Saint-Etienne, Xavier Pierrot anticipate with this Box Office pack: “The advantage of favoring Lyon supporters who would come to see the three posters is that we hope that this will limit the number of opposing fans since we have the problem in Marseille of having a closed visitor sector and therefore the risk to see some Marseillais elsewhere in the stadium. It is therefore also a way by creating these products, the Flexi or the Box Office, to favor the Rhone supporters who want to come and see us “, he says.
A strategy to introduce fans to the stadium
The deputy director of the stadium does not hide it. Behind this offer, the strategy “it is to hope that supporters will discover the enclosure during these beautiful evenings and want in the future to come back more often, or even to subscribe. It is therefore an advantage for us to favor subscribers, we think that it is the heart of the people to be privileged in the stadium. They have the possibility, depending on the zones in the stadium, to have rates between 20 and 40% cheaper on this Box Office pack “. Since the launch of the vaccination campaign as well as the possibility of a return of supporters to the stadium, OL have always put themselves forward in order to be a pilot club in this perspective of “return to normal life” for sport in France. Today, the Lyon club, through the voice of Xavier Pierrot, is pleased to have “nearly 20,000 subscribers. It’s the heart, it’s those who will push us. I was very satisfied to see the matches where at half-time we may not be at the expected result, but they continued to cheer on the team.
Facing Monaco, the stadium is likely to make noise, a lot of noise. The Lyon supporters are present in this delicate start to the championship. But after a year of sounding hollow, the OL stadium will once again roar for this shock against a direct competitor for the podium at the end of the season.