This article presents the problematic relationship between local authorities and amateur sports clubs, in particular the influence of the former on the organization of the latter. Our research shows that the local authority sometimes exerts undue hardship on these clubs, for example in their will of regrouping, and that this interference extends from granting to infrastructure development, through various aids provided for in decentralization laws. An examination of the situation of the athletics clubs of the metropolis of Lyon attests that, under the evolution of the political-socio-economic environment, the amateur sports club has lost its organizational autonomy and is now threatened with survival.