Saving on back-to-school costs is a concern that doesn’t just refer to school expenses. The French also deprive themselves of sporting activities. Since the beginning of the school year, after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, official speeches (from public authorities and sports federations) have placed great emphasis on the excess of applications for registration in sports associations. But, beyond the fact that this influx often encounters a lack of hosting resources, a phenomenon has been much less prominent: inflation and the high cost of living weigh on consumption, some French can no longer pay registration to the club.
“The purchasing power crisis constitutes a barrier for many”says deputy Pierrick Courbon (Socialist Party). “Licenses can reach several hundred euros in certain disciplines”, recalled the elected representative of the Loire, on October 30, during the examination in the cultural affairs committee of the finance bill for 2025, which records in particular a reduction of state credits allocated to the Pass’Sport, an aid of 50 euros allocated based on income or certain aid.
“We clearly feel that for certain families it has become more complicated”testifies Djouher Hadj-Henni, president of Boxing Beats in Aubervilliers (Sine-Saint-Denis). His club may have frozen membership fees for three years, but several parents who registered their children there asked for a larger differential in early September than before, he explains.
The same is true at the Dammarie-les-Lys ice sports club (Seine-et-Marne), where figure skating costs an average of 390 euros per year, license included. “Some parents have to make more financial efforts so that their children can continue practicing”says its president, Sébastien Télémaque.
“Sport remains an activity that the French appreciate and preserve in times of crisis: it is the last element of consumption that we sacrifice. But in low-income categories and single-parent families we can no longer achieve it.”, observed Jörg Müller, head of studies and research at the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Crédoc).
“A luxury for some families”
One in three French people has already stopped playing a sport because they cannot afford it, according to an Opinionway survey carried out at the end of April for the consumer credit brand Sofinco (conducted online in March among 1,002 people). In December 2023, Crédoc mentioned in its “National Barometer of Sports Practices” that 21% of non-practitioners or occasional practitioners They say they don’t do sports because “it costs too much”.
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