Why won’t Palmeiras play at Allianz Parque with Santos?

O Palm trees was notified by WTorre, administrator of Allianz Parque, that the stadium will not be available for the classic with the Santoson October 8th (Sunday), at 4pm, for the 26th round of the Brasileirão, because of a show scheduled two days after the match.

Scheduled for the 10th and 11th of October, the performance by Canadian singer The Weeknd, whose production required more time to set up the stage, will force the Alviverde team to play an away game against Santos. O Estadão confirmed the information with Real Arenas, the arm of WTorre that manages the Palmeiras arena.

The report found that Arena Barueri should be the stage for the classic. Palmeiras, aware that they will not be able to play some matches in their arena due to the concert calendar, has been taking care of the lawn at the stadium in Barueri for a few weeks, where the first game of the Campeonato Paulista finals was played this year against Água Santa .

Morumbi is another alternative, but it is unlikely that the Alviverde team will play there again. Abel Ferreira has praised the pitch at the São Paulo stadium more than once and approves of the team returning to play at the São Paulo home, as it did against Cerro Porteño, in the Copa Libertadores, and against Santos itself, in a classic for Paulistão. However, the agreement between the directors of Palmeiras and São Paulo that allows one to use the other’s stadium is no longer in force.

It was a specific agreement, made at the beginning of the year, facilitated by the cordial relationship that Leila Pereira and Julio Casares maintain, interrupting a period of fights, disagreements and provocations, especially during the management of Carlos Miguel Aidar, from São Paulo, and Paulo Nobre, from Palm trees. It is worth remembering that Pacaembu, a historic stadium in São Paulo, is still undergoing renovations and should only be reopened in January 2024.

OTHER GAMES WITHOUT ALLIANZ PARQUE

Of the nine home games that Palmeiras has to play this year, at least four will be played away from Allianz Parque. In addition to the duel with Santos, the matches against Athletico-PR, Internacional and América-MG, all for the Brasileirão, will also not be held at the Palmeiras arena.

Palmeiras has already raised R$77 million (gross value) from ticket sales this year in 28 matches, also considering those played at Morumbi, São Paulo’s stadium, when Allianz Parque was not available. With nine games still to be played at home in 2023, the plan is to reach R$100 million in gross income, which would be historic for the club.

However, as shown by the Estadão Last week, the events scheduled at the Palmeiras arena will force the team to play away from their stadium and, thus, see box office revenue decrease, as the prices charged for tickets at the rival’s stadium and in other places are cheaper. This way, it will be more difficult to reach R$100 million and surpass the R$99.5 million that was achieved in 2015 and still represents the record today.

Allianz Parque is recognized as one of the best arenas for shows and events in South America and is constantly sought after for large performances. The stadium will end the year with 37 shows. Palmeiras earns almost R$3 million per match on average in 2023 from the box office and exceeded the barrier of 1 million spectators at home in the current season, which had already been achieved last year, but this year it required five games love us.

It is worth remembering that, since April, Palmeiras and WTorre have been fighting over money. The club claims that Real Arenas, a company created by the construction company to manage Allianz Parque, has not transferred revenue from the use of the Palmeiras arena since 2015, which totals almost R$130 million. President Leila Pereira stated that the partnership is a “bad deal” for the association and criticized the manager more than once, who denies the default and says she will take appropriate measures.

The club, therefore, has not received even a penny it is entitled to from the proceeds from shows and other events. According to Palmeiras, since Allianz Parque was opened, Real Arenas only made transfers in November and December 2014, and from January to June 2015 (except May). In the last chapter of the dispute, the São Paulo Court suspended the execution requested by Palmeiras against WTorre.