Featured image credit: Club Athletico Paranaense
Club Athletico Paranaense has announced that Arena da Baixada will become the most connected, innovative and intelligent multi-purpose stadium in Brazil after the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A football team agreed a naming rights partnership with telecommunications company Ligga.
Under the 15-year contract, which is worth a reported fee of around R$200m (£32.9m/€38.6m/$41.9m), the Curitiba-based stadium will be renamed Ligga Arena, effective from tomorrow (Saturday).
The stadium first opened in 1999, and was extensively redeveloped for Brazil’s staging of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It made history as the first Brazilian stadium to take on a naming rights sponsor, being known as Kyocera Arena between 2005 and 2008, but has been without a commercial partner since then.
Ligga is an existing sponsor of Athletico, having initially teamed up with the club last year. Aguinaldo Farias, president of Club Athletico Paranaense, said: “The club invested for years in the structure of the stadium so that, at this moment, the naming rights could be consolidated.
“Combining the club’s brand with Ligga, a company from Paraná, is a source of pride for us. We are certain that this union will bring many benefits to people from Paraná and to all people who attend the stadium, related to innovation, technology and digital experience.”
Adeodato Volpi Netto, CEO of Ligga, said the company’s objective in investing in the partnership is, over time, to provide fans with connectivity and innovation experiences never seen before in football stadia.
This is also intended to enhance Ligga Arena’s ability to attract and host major events, concerts and exhibitions, transforming the venue into a pioneering facility in Brazil.
Adeodato said: “We are very excited about all the possibilities that exist from this announcement, which will go down in the history of Ligga and Athletico. Those who go to the stadium to watch the games can expect many innovations that will improve the experience there. And the possibilities are exponential with the arrival of 5G technology.”
Athletico-PR will become the fourth Série A club to play in a stadium with a naming rights partner, joining Neo Química Arena (Corinthians), Allianz Parque (Palmeiras) and Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova (Bahia).
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