Flamengo president, Luiz Eduardo Baptista, has said the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A football club’s new stadium is now expected to cost in excess of R$3bn (£411.7m/€496.2m/$520.9m), some R$1bn more than what was originally projected.
Arena Events+Venues in November presented plans for a new 77,923-capacity stadium, with the venue scheduled to open in 2029. The event featured the presentation of a preliminary architectural and engineering study for the wide-ranging project.
Arena Events+Venues, which specialises in stadium and arena construction, presented the study, with Flamengo noting 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. The project was presented under the regime of former president Rodolfo Landim, with Baptista being elected to replace him in December, taking office last month.
Later in November, Flamengo took another key step towards the delivery of its proposed new stadium through the signing of an agreement with the City of Rio de Janeiro. The deal essentially made the construction of the stadium in the Porto Maravilha area of the city viable through the agreement of two bills.
However, speaking to reporters, Baptista has revealed that financial projections for the stadium have now changed in the wake of reports conducted by Arena and Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
Baptista said: “We hired Arena to conduct an initial study. They said they did a preliminary assessment. We are hiring them to look more deeply into the soil quality and road conditions around the stadium (site).
“In addition, we are carrying out, in parallel, an economic and financial feasibility study with the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, which asked for 45 days to carry out this work, so that we can have an exact idea of where we are.
“What I can say now is that I have no doubt that the R$1.9bn figure is not true, and that this figure to be confirmed is close to R$3bn, or more. We are going to wait for these studies to be completed, and probably in about 60 days we will have a more informed position to share with you.”
A new stadium would mean that Flamengo ultimately moves out of the Estadio de Maracanã which has been its home since its construction in 1950.
In September, Flamengo, Fluminense and the Rio de Janeiro State Government officially signed a contract that will see the two clubs manage the Maracanã for the next 20 years. The state government confirmed back in June that the Fla/Flu Consortium had been awarded the contract after submitting a higher bid than a proposal put forward by Vasco da Gama and the WTorre conglomerate.
Meanwhile, Baptista has shrugged off protests from Flamengo fans over ticket prices for its games. Flamengo’s organised fan groups boycotted Saturday’s 5-0 Taça Guanabara victory over Maricá, with a crowd of just over 27,000 registered at the Maracanã, a low figure by the club’s standards.
In response, Baptista said: “São Paulo doesn’t have free tickets or half-price tickets like Rio de Janeiro does. Prices here are 35% to 40% cheaper than in São Paulo, and yet everyone complains. Everything is expensive in Brazil. To have the team we have, it would be hard to be any cheaper.
“The costs of Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, the Flamengo team and football today are inflated. It is not possible to price less than that. Anything less and we lose money, so you can’t have a team like the one we have here today, bringing joy to the hearts of 45 million people.”
