Sport: a key economic, social, and regional driver

As drivers of innovation, sports companies greatly benefited from the 2024 Games

France has seen significant growth in the number of sports companies: +31% compared to 2019, up to a total of 147,000 companies in 2024. This dynamism, driven by new business creation, is based on two pillars. The first pillar is demographic, comprising 121,500 non-employing businesses, chiefly micro-entrepreneurs. The second pillar is economic, made up of SMEs, intermediate-sized enterprises, and large companies generating more than €50 billion in revenue. Three sectors account for the bulk of the activities: retail activities first of all, followed by manufacturing, management, and construction activities and, finally, sports events and entertainment.

One year after the Games were held in France, an Audirep/BPCE L’Observatoire survey carried out in the summer of 2025 among a sample of sports companies employing six or more people enables us to obtain a better understanding of these businesses. The conclusion is that sports companies are dynamic, with fifty-five percent of them reporting growth in their activities, and even 65% expecting to see growth in the next two years.

A large number benefited from the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024: 42% report a positive impact, compared with only 5% for companies in other sectors. To meet growing and constantly changing demand, they are forced to invest and innovate. And this is what they are doing, sometimes to a much greater extent than microbusinesses and SMEs in other sectors. For example, more than half of them report bringing a new product, good, or service to the market. In this respect, they are innovative companies, in a proportion significantly higher than the average. While their primary challenge is keeping pace with new sports practices, sports companies also mention their focus on business development and the recruitment of skilled personnel.

An essential non-profit sector facing many challenges

In terms of both the magnitude of the funds mobilized (more than €24 billion), chiefly for sports facilities and equipment, and the density of the associative fabric linking local authorities to license holders, the non-profit sector occupies a pivotal position in the practice of organized sports activities in France. The aging stock of certain facilities, however, remains one of the principal challenges for local authorities, notably as far as swimming pools are concerned. The energy crisis and the inflationary surge of 2022–2023 have considerably weakened the economic equilibrium of these infrastructures.

The network of swimming pools in France – of which the country boasts nearly 3,800 mostly built between 1960 and 1980 – comprise a strategic, yet aging and unevenly distributed, aquatic heritage. With nearly 80% of them belonging to local authorities, they face high operating costs exacerbated by their dependence on principally fossil fuels and the recent energy and inflation crises.

60% Proportion of swimming pools heated using fossil fuels (gas or fuel oil)

Expenditure on swimming pools constitutes 26% of total sports equipment spending. The financial burden of running a swimming pool is often unsustainable for small municipalities, putting stress on the economic model and calling for tough choices to be made. In response, and in order to meet environmental imperatives, municipalities are increasingly pooling their resources to maintain service continuity while keeping funding sustainable. The focus is also shifting away from the commissioning of new swimming pools in favor of renovation work. The latter poses challenges in maintaining access to, and the quality of, aquatic services for the greatest number of people.

Finally, regional disparities remain considerable, with large urban areas being favored at the expense of rural areas. While local authorities invest an average of €33 per capita per year, this cost varies from €10 in some départements to €60 or more in others.

The sports economy: an offer that adapts to changes in demand

The starting point is sports participation, which has intensified and evolved in new ways. With more than 19 million people holding licenses and other membership credentials, organized sports participation in France has reached record highs. At the same time, the rise of event-based competitions reflects how French people are increasingly blending the practice of organized and casual sports activities.

To meet this change in demand, the sector has responded with a diverse and adaptable range of products and services. The offer comes primarily from the non-profit sector; 220,000 sports associations are economically active and resilient thanks to mostly private funding combined with the large-scale mobilization of volunteers. With expenditure exceeding €24 billion, the State and local authorities provide most of the funding for school and high-level sports, notably by paying the salaries of physical education teachers and by funding sports facilities. The sports offering is usefully complemented by the commercial sector and its 147,000 companies, which generated net sales of €80 billion in 2024.

2,7% of French GDP

The sports economy represents activities worth €78 billion, or 2.7% of French GDP. A total of €61 billion corresponds to actual household consumption in this sector, including both the purchase of sports equipment and gym membership fees, and €18 billion comes from investment spending. This breakdown between consumption and investment closely mirrors that of the economy as a whole. However, the sports economy differs in terms of the source of this wealth. Thirty-seven percent comes from the non-profit sector, compared to 31% for the economy as a whole. This figure highlights two salient facts: the first is the importance given to sport by the public authorities, illustrating the many benefits that sport provides to the general public. The second, which is a corollary of the first, highlights that this figure of 2.7% is an underestimate of the real economic, social, and societal contribution of sport in France.