French men's professional rugby clubs under the economic shock of Covid-19 ; Le rugby professionnel masculin français sous le choc économique de la Covid-19

The Covid-19 crisis has had an impact on French professional and amateur sport with the suspension of competitions from 12 March 2020 and the premature and definitive closure of the 2019/20 season. This is the case for French men's professional rugby, for which the TOP 14 (1st division) and PRO D2 (2nd division) professional championships have been suspended and then definitively closed. On 1 March 2020, the French National Rugby League (LNR) voted for a season without a championship winner or promoted and relegated teams, with the rankings stopped at day 17 for the TOP 14 and day 23 for the PRO D2. Based on academic work carried out on amateur football (Carin & Andreff, 2020) and professional basketball (Carin, Desquennes, Jaworski and Andreff, 2021), this research focuses on the economic models of French professional men's rugby clubs, its evolution over the period from 2008/09 to 2018/19 and the economic effects of Covid-19 on club finances. Access to the financial data of professional clubs in the first two divisions and exchanges with the Direction Nationale d'Aide au Contrôle de Gestion (DNACG) allow us to better understand the distribution of revenues, expenses and financial performance before the Covid crisis and to assess the short-term economic effects of this crisis on the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons. In addition to the economic effects on the first two seasons of the Covid, this study helps to highlight the crisis management of French professional rugby sports organisations. ; La crise de la Covid-19 a impacté le sport professionnel et amateur français avec la suspension des compétitions à partir du 12 mars 2020 puis l’arrêt prématuré et définitif de la saison 2019/20. C’est le cas du rugby professionnel masculin français pour lequel les championnats professionnels du TOP 14 (1re division) et de la PRO D2 (2e division) ont été suspendus puis clôturés définitivement. Le 1er mars 2020, la Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) votait pour une saison sans vainqueur de championnat ni équipes promues et ...