Which amateur athlete has never dreamed of seeing their matches broadcast? Because if Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Dupont and others are used to seeing themselves evolve on screens, this is not the case for Sunday’s players who perform in confidentiality. In 2022, more than 15 million French people were registered with a federation and the Champ’s application promises to provide them with a solution to provide them with better exposure.
This is an application whose aim is to “be able to vibrate with your champions and therefore follow their matches live”, explains Stéphane Gaultier, founder of the project. Created in 2022, the digital platform, free and accessible to all, already brings together 350 clubs from different sports (football, rugby, basketball, volleyball, handball, blind football), in 28 championships. It has been downloaded by more than 35,000 people. Promising beginnings, thanks to real service for users. The latter see sports content made more attractive, thanks to different added values: statistics, live rankings, with the possibility of setting up multiplexes.
To become attractive and attract more and more clubs, Champ’s emphasizes the many advantages that clubs have in collaborating with them. And first of all, the fact of bringing together a community of supporters, who will be able to have access to more content and information concerning their favorite team, whether or not they are present at the stadium: “The application does not replace the being on site,” insists Stéphane Gaultier. Another advantage is the ease of access, since the solution is delivered turnkey to the clubs: “You just need to place a smartphone on a tripod and you can film the match. The PUC (Paris Université Club, rugby, Editor’s note), which broadcasts on Champ’s today, uses a tablet which is mounted on a stand, which must have cost a few dozen euros.
Finally, last argument and not least, the interface makes it possible to remunerate the teams who choose to broadcast their matches via this application. Thanks to advertising revenue generated by local companies which can target an audience with precision, clubs can generate “up to several hundred euros” in a match, a significant sum for an amateur club.
The idea for Champ’s came following a call for tenders launched by Bouygues Telecom in 2021, calling for the reinvention of digital uses. Stéphane Gaultier and his partner, Thierry Magnien, won the bid. The two men do not know each other from yesterday, since they had worked on different projects together for around fifteen years. A logical adventure for these two sports enthusiasts, Thierry Magnien being an Aikido teacher and French bowling champion. Their strength ? “We have real complementarity. Thierry takes care of the entire technical department and I take care of everything related to business creation. I know how to set up a project, structure myself and organize it,” explains Stéphane Gaultier.
The latter was inspired by one of the biggest sporting events in France and in the world, allowing its supporters to access numerous live information. “You know who’s doing that now?” he says with a smile. Supporters of the Tour de France who come to crash with their campervan on the roads every year. They can, via the application developed by the organizers, find out live about the ranking of their favorite riders and the number of kilometers traveled.
A relevant example according to the entrepreneur, who is already planning towards the future of Champ’s around two axes. The first, that of technology, must make the spectator experience as unique as possible. “Take for example a grandmother who wants to see her grandson play in a team sport,” he still imagines. If, tomorrow, it can allow her to follow him throughout the meeting because there is a circle of light under her feet, she will be super happy. Because his experience as a supporter will be enriched and understandable straight away.” Improvements made possible thanks to a partnership with Amazon Web Services, which hosts the start-up’s servers.
As for the second axis, it is international where the application could, according to its founders, find more success outside French borders, the “French are fundamentally not very supportive”. The example of Germany and England, where fifth division football stadiums are regularly full to capacity, seems to point in this direction. Which also raises questions more generally about the impact that the Olympic Games will have in France, this summer but also in the long term.
This summer, for a month, all eyes will be on the French athletes who perform throughout the year in a much more confidential manner in their disciplines. “We have to think in the long term, so that the Games have a real legacy. We must create a France of supporters. This is an unrivaled opportunity for French sport,” said Stéphane Gautier. To do this, the federations must now think about viable broadcast media, with a long-term vision “And why not with Champ’s?”, concludes the ambitious business leader.
