(ATR) A temporary solution may bring some relief to the Maracanã.
Local football club Flamengo will operate the stadium for the team’s match against San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores on March 8. The arrangement was confirmed by the Maracanã S.A. consortium to Around the Rings and by a statement on Flamengo’s website.
Meanwhile, utilities provider Light said in a statement today that power has been returned to the stadium for the first time since Jan. 26. The statement added that Maracanã S.A. paid the $420,000 (R$1.3 million) due for the unpaid bills in November and December.
Flamengo said in its statement "the viability of Maracanã depends directly on [the club’s] involvement" like it did for Brazilian national football league games after Rio 2016.
"This announcement comes after a long process of technical evaluation of the viability of Maracanã to receive the game in question," the club said. "Despite being a punctual agreement and having no relation to the negotiation process of the concession of the stadium, [the agreement] shows that there's no lengths too great for Flamengo in taking care of its great fans."
Maracanã S.A. would not share details of the arrangement, telling ATRthat "information about the organization should be directed to the club". A spokesperson for the consortium said the arrangement was for only the March 8 match and referred all questions of how the stadium would be operated to Flamengo.
Requests for comment about the arrangement from Flamengo were not returned.
When operating the stadium Flamengo would need to repair the degraded pitch to meet standards of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). The Copa Libertadores is the premier club football competition for South America.
The temporary arrangement highlights the complexities of the situation with the Maracanã and the fragile state of its tenants. It also brings a much needed injection of care into a stadium that is teetering on abandonment.
The consortium refused to assume controlof the stadium following the Rio 2016 Olympics after it alleged the Rio organizing committee breached the defined "Terms of Authorization of Use." This led to Rio’s football clubs brokering deals to use the stadium for top flight matches, and a state of near abandonment in January and February.A judge ruled onJan. 14 that Odebrecht must reassume control of the Maracanã.
Eventually,power was cut off to the stadiumafter utilities for the stadium had been unpaid since October. Odebrecht and Light, the utilities provider,met earlier this weekto begin talks to settle the debts which led to today's agreement.
Maracanã S.A. is a consortium owned by South American construction company Odebrecht and global entertainment company AEG. Odebrecht owns a reported 95 percent of the consortium, but has been exploring a sale of their shares given the fallout from the company’s role in a massive worldwide corruption scandal and the financial situation in Brazil.
Two French companies,GL Events and Lagardère, have been negotiating to buy Odebrecht’s shares. GL Events, during the negotiations, worked with football clubs Flamengo and Fluminense and the Rio State Government to become the preferred bidder of the city’s biggest teams. Flamengo has said that if Lagardère were to win the concession contract it would not play in the Maracanã, and the team has begun renovating a stadium on Ilha do Governador for use over the next three years. But that stadium would not be ready for the March 8 match.
Yesterday, Globo reported that GL Events was reportedly pulling its bid due to "insufficient legal certainty" surrounding the concessions contract, continuing the post-Rio 2016 limbo of the stadium.
Written by Aaron Bauer
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