Atlético-MG is already experiencing some problems with its recently opened stadium, Arena MRV. In the first game, a bad pitch was noticeable, which even caused the game to be stopped for a few minutes for maintenance. Now, after two shows at the venue, it looks even worse, but the club’s CEO, Bruno Muzzi, guarantees that it will be in playing condition.
Atlético hosted two events at Arena MRV, on Wednesday (6) and Saturday (9), which had stage structures and operations set up on the pitch. The stage was even set up in the part where the lawn was already worse, as it was the side that didn’t get the sun. The club began grass maintenance shortly after the events.
– I think the pitch will be in excellent playing condition. As soon as the shows were over we started dismantling all the signs. Sunday morning I was ready to treat the lawn. We had already planned to replace the northern part of the lawn, which is the hardest part. We also changed the banner of a part near the reserve bench – said CEO Bruno Muzzi in an interview with Rádio Itatiaia.
Muzzi revealed that he personally went to Arena MRV to analyze the pitch with some technicians. Atlético applied a so-called “ready to play” grass in the areas where the quality was worse, and is now working to level the field.
– I think everything is as planned and expected. The part that was most burned by the lighting towers and the sound house, right in the center of the lawn, is already recovering. We will have a pitch in good playing condition for Saturday – added Muzzi.
The process of treating and replanting the grass continues at Arena MRV. Today we started planting the bermuda celebration grass rolls. The choice of reels is due to the ‘ready to play’ method, that is, ready to use. pic.twitter.com/6Yth8FA9pC
— Arena MRV (@ArenaMRV) September 13, 2023
Will failures on the MRV Arena lawn be repeated?
In the first game in the stadium’s history, against Santos, the grass in the north area of the stadium, where the sun doesn’t reach, was of poor quality and became loose during part of the second half, making it necessary for the referee to stop the game to tidy it up. Bruno Muzzi explained what happened:
– The (artificial) lights took a long time to arrive. Today I have two grasses, summer and winter. When the lights arrived, the summer grass was already very damaged, so I wasn’t able to recover it in time for the game. Where the grass peeled off (in the small area), there was a maintenance error. When you have a small plate, you don’t make a small cut like it was made, it has to be bigger and deeper.
For Atlético’s next game at the stadium, which takes place this Saturday (16), against Botafogo, Muzzi hopes that there will no longer be this type of problem, but highlighted that there may indeed be glitches: “The grass is in excellent condition for the game. As it is a very young grass, it may have one or two flaws. But she is at a great level to play. Our hope is that there will be no displacement for this game, as we changed the pitch at these points.”
Losses at shows
The shows that took place last week at Arena MRV did not make Atlético a profit, as Bruno Muzzi explained. The CEO highlighted that these were test events, so the club was not concerned with profit but with getting all the details right.
– What we planned was a learning curve. We opened to 20 thousand people (the 1st show) and then to 30 thousand (the 2nd show). For the show to be profitable, we need to be in the region of 35/40 thousand. We spend more on people and security. It was a test event, like all the others.
The first shows were by country duos Jorge and Mateus and Clayton and Romário, as well as singer Ivete Sangalo. The second event was with the international band Maroon 5 and the Minas Gerais band Jota Quest.