PRESIDENT OF FLAMENGO, RODOLFO LANDIM STATES THAT FLAMENGO STADIUM WILL LEAVE WITH OR WITHOUT SAF

The president of Flamengo, Rodolfo Landim, said in an interview with CBN that it is not time for Flamengo to discuss how it will finance the construction of its own stadium and that it must first buy the land. According to Landim, once the land is acquired, Flamengo needs to use the Maracanã concession to be able to calmly plan the best construction and financing model. He assured, however, that the stadium “will come out with or without SAF”.

“Even if we have access to this land, if we are going to take care of all the licensing work, the discussions that we will have together with the city hall regarding people's mobility, the various approvals and construction time, this is a project for at least five years. I even see Maracanã as a way of, once we have the land, structuring a better way to build this stadium and finance this stadium over time. For now, what we really want is to have access to this land, which we believe is very important so that we can later develop this project calmly”, he stated.

Landim hinted that Flamengo was able to acquire the land with its own resources thanks to the club's economic power, which had revenue of almost R$1.4 billion and a surplus of more than R$320 million in 2023, as revealed in the balance sheet published last Thursday.

“We are reducing our debt, and we have a very low net debt. In fact, we are putting together the economic conditions to have a stadium”, he said.

The president of Flamengo said that the Gasologista land is perfect for Flamengo's plans, which is why he is insisting so much on its acquisition.

“The advantage of Maracanã today is that you have access to major roads, buses, trains, subways, public transport, the The percentage of people who drive their own car to Maracanã is small. And the idea of ​​looking for a piece of land relatively close to Maracanã, which is that land owned by Gasologista, which is the only piece of land available there, with the construction of the Gentileza Terminal you have a VLT terminal, a BRT terminal, a bus station for those comes from outside Rio and for those coming by subway, the Cidade Nova station is just over a kilometer from the stadium. For a mass transport location, it is perfect for placing a stadium. This is the main reason why we fight so hard for that land”, he stated.

“The stadium will come out with or without SAF. What exists is a discussion that is a model that would have to be discussed with Flamengo's partners if they understood that this is the path. Which is the Bayern Munich model. Instead of selling control, Bayern sold a minority portion of this capital. He continues to have 75.1% of football control. And through this mechanism he obtained resources to build a stadium. Can we give up using this money [from a SAF]? We can let go. But we are going to put the club in debt and it will be much more painful for us because there will be a capital cost to pay this money that will be necessary for the construction of the stadium that could be reverted to the football club, for investment in our players”, he stated.

Landim assured, however, that there is no possibility that, even with the creation of the SAF, Flamengo giving up control of your football.

 “There is no reason today so that in whatever Flamengo's project may be, the Clube de Regatas do Flamengo will not be the controller of your football. Whenever people associate the image of the SAF, they see the SAF as a solution to save clubs from bankruptcy. The first thing I want to make publicly is that I understand that Flamengo has no reason why its sports association should not continue to control its football forever.”

Landim attributed it to an attempt by the opposition to create controversial in an election year the anticipation of the discussion on SAF. However, the person who put the issue on the agenda was Landim's cousin and vice-president of Patrimony Arthur Rocha, who gathered signatures for an amendment to regulate the process of transforming the club into SAF. As MRN published on Friday, Rocha ended up giving up after Landim assured that he would not propose the creation of the SAF this year.

“This is a discussion to have at the time if and only if we come to have access to the land. It's a huge anticipation of discussion, but we understand especially when it comes to a political year in Flamengo, an election year. Everything is a reason to have controversy, since it is difficult to create controversy today with the balance we are delivering, with the results we are having in Olympic sports, at the Gávea headquarters, in football itself. It’s the space that Flamengo’s opposition can find”, he stated.

Landim also explained why he rejects the possibility of creating a society for specific purpose to generate the stadium instead of a SAF that would take over part of Flamengo's football, albeit a minority.

” It's the Palmeiras model, and we see what's happening there. Because the next day the partner will want to increase the stadium's revenue and reduce the club's revenue. He will fight you on the first day. This model is a bad model, and I already anticipated it,” he said.