Pre-candidate talks about Flamengo stadium: “the only team capable of finishing in 4 years is mine”

Flamengo is still living the dream of starting work on its new stadium. After Caixa Econômica Federal give up action to annul the expropriation of the Gasologista land by the city of Rio de Janeiro, Mais Querido is closer to receiving the term of ownership and being able to work on the site that it sold at auction in July 31st. In an election year at the club, pre-candidates have been addressing the topic in recent interviews.

On the podcast 'Fala João!', by presenter João Guilherme, Luiz Eduardo Baptista, known as Bap, spoke about Mais Querido's dream stadium. The president of Flamengo's Board of Directors said that he has a very capable team around him and that the group that is with him in the candidacy is more prepared for the challenge than anyone else involved in this election.

“ I understand that the stadium is a dream of the entire Nation and it will happen. That said, apart from the land, we have absolutely nothing. When I look at the team that is with me, the team that is by my side, I am absolutely sure that the only team today at Flamengo that has the ability to execute this in the time we will have of four and a half years is the one that is with me,” said Bap.

The leader also states that the group that is at his side will have the capacity not only for construction, but also for generating the financial resources necessary for the work and guaranteed that, if he becomes president, Flamengo it will not give up sports performance or become SAF to be able to finance the project.

“So I see that we have a lot of competent people to help not only build, but generate resources, without which Flamengo could be in a dangerous situation. Flamengo will have a stadium, it will not give up its sporting performance or its independence to become SAF. So if anyone thinks that they are going to use the stadium as a way to transform Flamengo into SAF, they can take the horse out of the rain because it won't happen”, declared the president of the Administrative Council.

Despite Without going into details, Bap said that he plans to increase the club's revenue by 50% over the next five years, which would take the red and black revenue to around R$2 billion and that these additional revenues would be enough to finance the project with minimal debt and capable of being resolved already in Flamengo's budget.

“Our plan is to increase Flamengo's revenue by 50% in five years from R$1.4 billion to R$2.1 billion and increase the club's profitability and operating margin from 25% to 31%. This gain over time will cover approximately R$1.5 billion additionally that Flamengo does not have today. With R$300 (million), R$700 million would be missing. I estimate that our stadium will cost something like R$2.5 billion. Then you could put into debt a club that earns more than R$2 billion, from a hundred and a few million today to 700 (million), which would be somewhere between 35, 40% of the club's revenue. And then, the stadium business itself would contribute with the business itself to pay for the stadium”, he concluded.