Nice Mayor Says He Will Cancel 70.3 Worlds – IRONMAN Says Event Still On
Eric Ciotti, who was elected last month to be the new mayor of Nice, held a press conference today where he outlined his plans to reduce the city’s budget by 60 million euros. Among the cancellations he intends to bring to Nice’s city and metropolitan councils are the upcoming IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice scheduled for Sept. 12-13, and the UTMB event race that is set to take place from Sept. 24-27.
The cancellations are among a number of cuts Ciotti plans that will enable him to cut property taxes in the city by 4.4 percent, a total of 33 million euros, along with a cut to the household waste tax, which will save residents another 11 million euros. The cuts include a number of perks that elected officials had previously enjoyed including vehicles, security and parking. Elected officials will also see salaries reduced by a quarter, according to nice-premium.com.
On the chopping block in terms of events is the International Metropole Nice Côte d’Azur pétanque competition, which will save the city 300,000 euros – one would assume in hosting fees.
Even bigger news for the endurance world, though, are the two other events Ciotti has in his sights – the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship (which reportedly will save 1.6 million euros in hosting fees), and the Ultra Trail Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur event by UTMB, which will save the city 650,000 euros.
Just because the mayor proposes the cuts doesn’t guarantee they will happen – the municipal council votes on the proposed budget. That said, typically the mayor is elected by the council, which means he typically holds a lot of sway over the voting.
Olympic Headaches
A story posted today by Le Monde reported that Ciotti also has issues with the plans for the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps. Ciotti is reportedly unhappy with the plan to hold the ice hockey events at the football (soccer) stadium so that the city’s local club won’t be forced out at, what he claims, will be a cost of 80 million euros. He also wants to cancel the construction of a new arena and hold the figure skating at the city’s exhibition centre, while also having the Olympic Village moved 15 km from the proposed site to a police barracks which will be shut down next year.
“We have a real problem regarding Nice with a mayor elected who is for the Games, but not in line with the original plan,” said Renaud Muselier, the President of the Regional Council of Provence Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
IRONMAN Say Events Still On
IRONMAN is working on a statement that confirms the events are still happening, despite today’s statements by the mayor. According to IRONMAN, officials from the company have confirmed with the mayor’s office and sports representatives from the city that the events can still take place.
Here’s the statement from IRONMAN:
Despite today’s media reports, we can confirm, in collaboration with the City of Nice, that the 2026 editions of IRONMAN France Nice, IRONMAN 70.3 Nice, as well as the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon will take place as planned on the dates previously communicated. We are in ongoing conversations with the newly elected Mayor about how we can best support the City of Nice, and look forward to welcoming our athletes to the events this summer.
the new Mayor of Nice just announced the cancellation of several events in the city
including 70.3 worlds
What the f
I’m not sure if this is a departmental reorganization or he tore up the contract. Could it be they have a bloated bureaucracy for running events?
But it sure sounds like it’s off… Or is public funding of it just off?
During nearly three-quarters of an hour of speeches, everything was covered: the cancellation of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship final in September, cuts to the “exorbitant” legal fees, the overhaul of a €5 million “giga-technical center,” and reductions in the firm’s payroll and fees. “We have more than fifteen salaries exceeding €10,000 gross per month between the departments and members of the firm,” he stated. “Several had villas or official apartments…”
wow
So how’s that permanent move to Kona looking now? Making Ironman look like geniuses…
It feels a bit like the Trumpian governmentism applied against itself is being used. Thrown out contracts. Dare vendors to enforce them. By the time the courts are involved the damage is done. That practice has been used in a variety of ways in the past, but this new version seems more aggressively innovative, to put it nice-ly…
If that’s the world we live in now, it pretty much means you can plan anything. It rather have to plan on agreements being ignored… Eww.
Haha truly. A terrible idea turned golden.
Kevin is working on an article, Ironman is issuing a statement that this years event is on.
You’d have to imagine that the contract is solid enough that 2026 survives. Or at least there’s enough of a cancellation fee that IM could pick up and give a sweetheart deal to any venue willing to pick it up on short notice.
But 2028? Less likely.
And the 2030 option that isn’t set in stone? This one is gone for sure.
I just DM’d with the ProTriNews guys, they said they spoke to Ironman 30mins ago and worlds is still on (as the article says).
If your entire brand tied to a single location such that the local mayor can cancel it in a pique of rage, then you’ve set yourself up for failure.
Worst case scenario here is that IM likely gets a hefty cancellation fee for 2026 and can lean on one of its other EU-based partners at the last moment. We’ll all forgive IM because, let’s face it, if they’re targeting the Olympics, we’re the small fish here.
But if Kona were to do the same thing? oof
I have added our story to this for reference.
So…45 minutes? That’s such an odd way to say 45 minutes…
You don’t know the French mind when it comes to counting. It’s actually a thing. I suspect subtle things like this actually make a big difference in various aspects of our neural development.
Enjoy
The event can’t be canceled by the Mayor’s decree. There are contracts in place with clauses for cancelation. All the Mayor did was not include money for the event in his proposed budget. A proposal means nothing until it is approved and even then it doesn’t cancel a contract.
I suspect the Mayor has done this to fire a shot across the bow of Ironman as part of a negotiating tactic. We’ll see how it plays out but, if I were a betting RD, I’d bet on Ironman.
I mean he’s already told IM how much money this would take.