Article by Adrian Jitea – Published Tuesday, March 10, 2026 9:20 p.m. / Updated Tuesday, March 10, 2026 9:22 p.m.
With 10 days until local elections in the French city of Toulon, Bernard Lemaître, president of the local rugby club, is pushing for a new stadium to be built.
The legendary Mayol arena no longer meets the demands of contemporary sport. It was inaugurated in 1920, went through several renovations and has a capacity of 17,500 seats. The end is nigh if club bosses RC Toulon can find the funding for a new stadium.
The place has already been established, a few hundred meters from the current construction, in full breeze coming from the Mediterranean Sea. The cost would amount to approximately 200 million euros, and Lemaître says that the completion of the project is mandatory. Due to the poor conditions of the current arena, the club would lose around 8 million euros every season.
They want to build a modern arena next to the legendary “Mayol” on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea
“No one wants to give up on Mayol, but his time has passed. In today's world of rugby, the main income of a professional club must come from its stadium. The stake is therefore a modern stadium, capable of generating sufficient resources to reduce the deficit and ensure the future of RCT in the elite of French rugby.
We manage to generate only 5 million euros in annual turnover from hospitality services, simply because we do not have the necessary facilities.
The renovation of the Mayol stadium would cost more, a fortune, over 400 million euros. It will be the responsibility of the incoming mayor to recognize the urgency of the situation and act in a time frame compatible with RCT's survival at the highest level of French rugby.
At first we were received with distrust, but gradually they were convinced. Some were initially hostile, but in the election campaign not much is revealed. We have only just begun the steps, we will not give up. The future mayor will follow us,” said Bernard Lemaître, according to RMC Sport.
Bernard Lemaître, aged 87, is the head of the Toulon club / PHOTO: GettyImages
RC Toulon is an important French rugby union team. He has 4 championship titles in his record, the last one in 2014. In this Top 14 season, he ranks 7th, the first below the play-off zone.
The arena is named after him Felix Mayola singer from the city of Toulon. He lived between 1872 and 1941. He purchased with personal funds the land where the stadium was built.
