Santos announces agreement to demolish Vila Belmiro and build arena in its place

The president of Santos, Marcelo Teixeira, announced this Wednesday (2) that he has an agreement with WTorre for the construction of the new Santos stadium. The document, according to the director, will be signed within two months. The new arena will be built in place of the Vila Belmiro, which will be demolished.

“The document is being prepared and is within the schedule itself, it will be defined within 60 days. As for the beginning of the works, today we depend on Pacaembu, as we do not have stadiums. Concomitant with what we are dealing with WTorre, the deadline is ideal”, said the president. “The new stadium will have 30 thousand seats.”

Teixeira conditioned the resolution of bureaucratic issues and the signing of the contract with WTorre at the end of the Pacaembu works, which will become the Casa Santos during the construction of its new stadium in the beach city. “The agreement with the stadium has been concluded. What remains is the completion of the work (on Pacaembu). As soon as we have Pacaembu, we will be able to start work (on the new Santos stadium).”

The announcement was made at a press conference, which was not attended by representatives from the construction company. According to Estadão, the parties are in the process of reaching a point of convergence in the contract to give start of demolition and works on the future Santos arena in early 2025. There are still a series of points to be debated, but the tendency is for the hammer to be hammered by the end of the year.

An issue involving the parties concerns Viva Sorte, a capitalization company that acquired the naming rights of Vila Belmiro. The contract has already been signed and has undergone changes with the entry of the construction company, with whom Santos has a signed memorandum for the construction of its new stadium. Marcelo Teixeira believed that the document had several other points that would not be beneficial to the club and, therefore, the conversations dragged on.

One of the plans discussed was for a ten-year contract to be signed between the parties, worth approximately R$15 million per year. However, when announced, it became valid only until construction work begins on the new stadium.

The agreement between Santos and WTorre, responsible for building Allianz Parquefrom rival Palmeiras, follows the surface rights format. Thus, the club gives the site to the company for 30 years, with a period counting from the inauguration of the new arena. The club continues to own the land and stadium and the company has the right to use the site. The reconstruction of the stadium is expected to take 24 to 30 months.