The MRV Arena is preparing to receive its largest audience at a football game since it was opened. The match between Atlético-MG and Cuiabá, which takes place on Saturday (23), at 9pm. Galo put 40 thousand tickets on sale and there are few left to be sold.
For this Saturday’s match, Atlético has allowed an audience of 40,000 for the Arena MRV. Around seven thousand of these tickets are reserved for owners of captive seats and boxes, in addition to another portion for organizers and advisors to purchase. The package for the “common fan” went on sale early in the morning of Tuesday (19) and, on the afternoon of this Wednesday (20), there were just over 2,500 tickets still to be sold. With this, it is safe to say that the audience will surpass the mark of the match against Botafogo, last Saturday, which is the current record.
In the first game in the history of its stadium, Atlético had only 30 thousand seats released by the authorities, and had 29,782 fans present, of which 24,574 were paying fans. In the second game, against Botafogo, Galo managed to release 40 thousand, but placed 31,720, with 26,302 paying. Against Cuiabá, with less than 2,500 tickets remaining, it is certain that we will have an audience of close to 40 thousand at Arena MRV.
We will have record attendance at Arena MRV for Atlético x Cuiabá. There are just over 2500 tickets left on the website. In other words, it is certain that we will have more than the 31 thousand we had against Botafogo.
Tickets are expected to sell out. Load is 40 thousand tickets. pic.twitter.com/4GuOif3OvE
— Alecsander Heinrick (@alecshms) September 20, 2023
The lower-than-expected number against Botafogo was largely due to the high price of tickets, with the cheapest being R$90 for the member who pays for the more expensive member’s plan. Therefore, for the game against Cuiabá, Atlético decided to lower prices. The cheapest for this Saturday’s game costs R$60 for the same membership category mentioned above.
Audience at Arena MRV
The MRV Arena has a capacity for around 45 thousand fans. However, Atlético still does not have the approval to release maximum capacity. This is because the stadium was opened and is being used before the necessary renovations were carried out around it. Furthermore, as it is a new object, it must be operated on a scaled basis. With this, Galo tried to gradually increase the audience present in his new home.
In the first event, called “Nascimento do Campo”, around nine thousand people were present at Arena MRV. In the second, “Lendas do Galo”, the audience increased to 20 thousand. In the first official game, against Santos, there were 30, against Botafogo and Cuiabá, 40 thousand. Atlético’s idea is to have maximum attendance from the classic against Cruzeiro, on October 22nd.
Collection at Arena MRV
With the two games at Arena MRV, Atlético has already had gross revenue of more than R$4.3 million. However, it had high expenses, of more than R$2 million. As a result, the club had a final collection, called net revenue, of just over R$2.2 million. The average profit (51%) is below the season average (54%), adding up the games that Galo played at Mineirão and Independência.
@ArenaMRV | Game 2
Galo faced the leader of the Brasileirão and achieved an important victory.
Free fees remain high and a pricing error prevented all available tickets from being sold.
Revenues were high, but as costs also grew… pic.twitter.com/wLa01h9BwA
— Finances do Galo (@Financial_Galo) September 19, 2023
This lower profitability is normal for the start of operations at Arena MRV, as the club’s CEO, Bruno Muzzi, has already mentioned several times. This is because, as the stadium is a completely new object, the club will only be able to get things right over time, as the games go by. Therefore, it is normal that expenses are high at the beginning, as the Rooster still does not know, for example, how many people are needed for security, which is an important expense and, when agreed, will cost less. The same goes for all other expenses.