Maracanã: rules allow administration of just one club – 10/20/2023 – Sports

The new bidding notice for the Maracanã concession released this Friday (20) by the Government of Rio de Janeiro opens the door for only one club to participate in the administration of the country’s main stadium. The scoring rules, however, benefit consortia with the involvement of more teams.

The possibility is due to the need for only 25 football match dates to be guaranteed by the bidder to enter the dispute. Any of the three major Rio de Janeiro teams interested fulfills the requirement with regional, national and South American competitions.

This is the main change in relation to the notice that the Rio de Janeiro government launched two years ago, shelved due to demands from the TCE (State Audit Court). At the time, 70 matches were required at the stadium, which, in practice, forced at least three clubs to form a consortium.

The new version of the notice, however, will benefit the consortium that brings together more than one club. The score assigned to the number of games varies from 5 (from 25 to 39 guaranteed dates) to 35 (70 dates or more), out of a total of 125 possible points in the technical proposal, which corresponds to 60% of each bidder’s final score.

The financial proposal must be at least R$6.1 million per year — the contract is for 20 years. This item will correspond to 40% of the final grade, with the highest proposal obtaining 125 points, the second, 115, the third, 105, and the others, 95.

Maracanã has been managed since 2019 by a company formed by Flamengo and Fluminense. The two clubs always planned to enter the dispute together. However, they face setbacks in the joint management of the stadium.

The excess of games between the two clubs has led to successive bans due to the conditions of the pitch. This week, Flamengo refused to hand over the stadium two weeks in advance for Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) to prepare for the Libertadores final between Fluminense and Boca Juniors, scheduled for November 4th.

Vasco intends to compete in the bid in partnership with WTorre, which manages the Palmeiras stadium. The Cruzmaltino club has obtained in court the right to host some matches at Maracanã, claiming that it is a public facility that has not yet been granted.

Botafogo manages the Nilton Santos stadium, known as Engenhão, and should not participate in the dispute.

Despite the loophole for administration by a club, the concession rules do not allow exclusive use by a single team from Rio. The terms of reference determine that the stadium manager defines a price to be charged to associations that do not participate in the management of the stadium. It also prohibits the customization of common areas with the colors of a team — the chairs in the stands have the tones of the Brazilian flag.

Until the conclusion of the bidding process, the government will maintain the administration of Maracanã through the use permission agreement, currently granted to the Fla-Flu duo. The Civil House also published a notice to compete for the management of the stadium next year until the conclusion of the concession bidding.

The rules of the notice maintain the provision of delivery of seven boxes and 282 tickets per match.

The administration of Maracanã was granted in 2013, before the World Cup, to a consortium led by Odebrecht. The contract began to be disrespected by the state government in 2014, when, under pressure from demonstrations, former governor Sérgio Cabral decided to cancel the demolitions planned in the surrounding area, affecting the contractor’s business plan.

Months later, Odebrecht itself would enter into crisis due to the Operation Lava Jato investigations. The contract with the consortium was revoked in March 2019 by decision of former governor Wilson Witzel (PSC), after an attempt at renegotiation that had been going on for four years.

Since April 2019, Flamengo and Fluminense have provisionally taken over the administration of the stadium.