CBF Rule Limits Income for Some of Brazil’s World Cup Stadiums

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Large stadiums built for the 2014 World Cup are facing potential loss in revenue since an October ruling from the CBF. The provisional measure prohibits the leasing of fields which fall outside of state boundaries and previously scheduled venues – in the last five rounds of the national Brasileiro A and B Series football (soccer) tournament.

The statement forwarded by CBF to the forty clubs in Series A and B included: “In order to preserve the technical balance of the competitions and avoid any kind of favor in the final stretch of the competition, the Competition Directorate determines that in the last five rounds of the A and B Series, no match schedule will be permitted in any state […].

The measure is not permanent yet, but if the CBF decides to keep the rule during 2017, some big stadiums with smaller local football clubs will suffer. For example, the Arena da Amazônia, in the Northeastern city of Manaus who earned fifty percent of their revenue in 2016 from attracting large national matches.

Built for the 2014 World Cup, the space costs annual expenses of R$6,593,349.00 to the government of Amazonas. In 2016, for example, there were three matches: Vasco x Flamengo and Vasco x Fluminense, for the Campeonato Carioca, and Vasco x Londrina, for the second division of the Brasileiro.

In total, stadium management received R$600,144, equivalent to 10.9 percent of the annual salaries – and more than half of the total collection – of the Arena. Fabrício Lima of the Amazonas Sports Department said, “Without these matches, we will have to turn around in other ways to maintain the monthly maintenance of the stadium. It certainly will not be easy.”

The arena does have other forms of income. The match between Brazil and Colombia, for the Qualifiers, is an example. The game yielded R$408,835 for the stadium, equivalent to seven percent of field rent.

The other main sources of revenue are derived from holiday events or musical shows. In this case, the administration charges a fixed amount, and the total amount was R$66,000. The total collection of the Arena of the Amazon in 2016 was approximately R$1,117,654.

Erected on the site of the club’s former Vivaldão home, the modernized version took almost three years to build and cost a reported R$605 million. Work started in late 2011, with the stadium eventually being declared ready for FIFA World Cup action on March 9th, 2014.