Management of sports facilities is one of the pillars of sports policy developed by elected officials, whatever the town. Planning, implementing and maintaining sports facilities allow a Sports Departments to carry out various tasks in the field of education, sports activities and supporting associations in the organization of sport events. However these public initiatives are facing a complex triptych: the obsolescence of sporting equipment, identifying the social demand and the individual and collective strategies of the players in the sports world. This study raises several questions: How to design the right offer of sport facilities for a city like Rennes? What should be the logic behind picking location of sport equipment? What indicators are inherent to sports that sports department of a local authority must track to develop a policy for utilization, construction and renovation of sports facilities? The sociohistorical approach allows understanding the relationship between local and national context and the logic of the networks of decision making for equipment planning. It is based on a study of the construction of sports facilities in Rennes from the late 18th century to today. In addition a survey of sport stakeholders and practitioners in Rennes, and a comparative study of programming methodologies facilities in nine cities of France, provide some answers to improve decision making in regards to planning sport facilities.
