Paris La Défense Arena transformed into a makeshift hospital? According to information from Le Parisien, the president of the Racing 92 rugby club Jacky Lorenzetti and the former Minister of Sports Jean-François Lamour have proposed transforming the Paris La Défense Arena into a care center to accommodate the sick. In order to support the Parisian hospitals, already overloaded, this solution would allow to support the war effort requested since the beginning of the health crisis by the executive.
At the same time, the former minister told the Parisian newspaper that the enclosure, better known as theU Arena, "has been clearly identified by the health authorities, namely the Regional Health Agency, to house an emergency aid center. Why this venue rather than another? If the ARS has designated Paris La Défense Arena as a potential care center, it is above all for "its heated facilities which have all the necessary amenities". In addition, its configuration, which makes it the largest multimodal venue in the world, allows it to accommodate 32,000 spectators in rugby configuration and up to 40,000 in concert mode .
Also, the U Arena had already hosted in 2018 and 2019, as part of the Grand Froid plan, homeless people in an annex multipurpose room. For the moment, the Ciel et Blanc stadium, located in Nanterre, is useful in the packaging of meal trays distributed every day to those in need. A measure that would necessarily be useful to support the health and municipal services, in the front line in the fight against the epidemic due to the coronavirus.
