Featured image credit: Marcelo Cortes/CRF
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A football club Flamengo has taken another key step towards the delivery of its proposed new 78,000-capacity stadium through the signing of an agreement with the City of Rio de Janeiro.
The deal essentially makes the construction of the stadium in the Porto Maravilha area of the city viable through the agreement of two bills that will be sent to the City Council. The first bill aims to transfer the construction potential that Flamengo holds at Sede da Gávea, its main headquarters and site of its first stadium, to other locations in the city.
With this operation, the club will be able to negotiate the right to build in other areas of the city, and this is expected to raise around R$500m (£61.2m/€81.7m/$86m). These funds can only be used for the construction of the new stadium.
The second bill will exempt Flamengo from paying an additional urban planning rights grant (Cepacs) to Caixa Econômica Federal, the state-owned financial services group from which it acquired the land for the construction of the stadium.
To avoid losses for Caixa, compensatory measures within the Porto Maravilha Consortium Operation will be offered by the municipality to the bank. This second bill will mean that the Flamengo will no longer have to pay an additional R$500m for the property to Caixa.
Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, said: “This is an important achievement for the city. Everything we did respected the law, the expropriation process, the auction. Everything was very open and done within the rules.
“What we are doing is committing to allowing Flamengo to use something that already belongs to it. Flamengo did not win the land from the City Hall, it bought it by paying the appropriate price. We created the conditions so that Flamengo has full capacity to exercise a right that it already has.
“Flamengo has Gávea, with its construction potential. And since the government does not allow the club to build on the area that belongs to it, we are allowing it to do so in another area.”
The latest news comes after Arena Events+Venues on Friday presented plans for the stadium, which is earmarked to be ready for November 15, 2029, when the club will mark its 134th birthday. The event featured the presentation of a preliminary architectural and engineering study for the wide-ranging project.
Flamengo noted that the final choice of the company responsible for the project will be determined through a competition that will be held between several interested parties. A video and a series of images were released for the stadium, with Flamengo planning a budget of R$1.93bn.
Studies by the Rio City Hall, through the Municipal Secretariat for Urban and Economic Development (SMDUE), have shown that the new stadium could generate R$5.3bn for the economy of Rio de Janeiro over 10 years. This calculation includes the R$833m spent by fans on home and away games – ticket purchases, transportation expenses, and spending at bars and restaurants.
In 2023, the club attracted 1.8 million fans across 33 games, with its main home currently being the Estadio de Maracanã. Flamengo’s revenue from the new stadium is projected to be 10% higher than that recorded in 2023 (R$1.374bn).
Paes added: “Obviously, Flamengo has a huge identity with the Maracanã, but the Maracanã has a public dimension that prevents it from being just a club venue. Regardless of the economic gains, of the entire structure, it has a very great symbolic value as an intangible asset of the city.
“This is a club that wins over and mobilises the vast majority of Rio residents, as much as it pains me, as a Vasco (da Gama) fan, to say this. With this act, we commit to giving Flamengo full capacity to exercise a right that Flamengo already has.”
It is expected that construction on the new stadium will commence in around a year’s time, with a view to meeting the 2029 delivery goal. Commenting on the financial impact of a new home, Flamengo president Rodolfo Landim told Globo Esporte: “What we have tried to show here was operationally… the gains we believe will come from the construction of this stadium, the increase in revenue compared to what Maracanã currently has. We will be able to price it much better.
“Today, we basically sell seven products at Maracanã. In this stadium, we will have 31 different types of products that we will be able to sell. From seats to services associated with them. This allows us to improve a lot without creating any problems for Flamengo fans, who will be able to watch the games, as they always like to do, buying tickets at today’s prices. And we intend to improve some tickets with associated services.”
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