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Last Sunday night, against Coritiba, Atlético-MG completed 14 games under the command of Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli. The coach asked for and won reinforcements, reformulated the team, but still cannot have the fans at his side. Exactly six months ago, Atlético played the last game with the public in attendance.
It was on March 7, in the victory with a goal at the end against Cruzeiro (2-1), for the eighth day of the first phase of the Mineiro Championship, that the Atlético fans went to the stadium before the pandemic began in Brazil and, with it, football stoppage. There was still one match left before the dates were frozen, but Galo beat Villa Nova a week later, with Alçapão do Bonfim without a crowd.
The ball rolled again and July, but the stadium doors remain closed, with no forecast of reopening.
The Atlético fans cheered the classic against Cruzeiro on March 7 – Photo: Bruno Cantini / Atlético-MG
Since then, the fan of black and white has only been able to visit the works of the MRV Arena (get on the back of a truck), the future project of Galo’s own stadium, which received permission to premiere the stage of building. Apart from the play, the participation of the fans was limited to social networks, the demonstration in the windows of the houses (as in the club’s birthday in March) and the growth of the member-supporter program.
During the pandemic, President Sérgio Sette Câmara created the “Manto da Massa” campaign, in which the club would manufacture a new jersey, in a special edition, designed by the winner of the contest. It was an absolute success. Galo raised R $ 20 million with the sale of 100 thousand units. The pieces should reach fans later this month.
The campaign brought discounts for members, which caused an increase in the number of subscriptions to “Galo na Veia”. Before, there were 23,000 firms in default, and now the goal is to reach 45,000. The “Manto da Massa” collection was a real boost. With empty sources of income, the R $ 20 million brought relief.
One of the impossibilities of Atlético’s coffers was box office money. Galo has already played six games as a main in the post-pandemic and pays for the games in Mineirão. So far, there are almost R $ 540 thousand in losses.
Jorge Sampaoli, in the Mineirão box during Atlético-MG x Cruzeiro – Photo: Bruno Cantini / Atlético-MG
That is, in addition to not taking a penny in your pocket when it comes to selling tickets, the Minas Gerais club (as well as its rivals) pay to play, and pay even more to play in Mineirão than if they were directors of Independência. The counterpart is the convenience that a large stadium provides to the club, including in terms of health security against Covid-19.
Sette Câmara has already expressed the forecast that Atlético will be without having R $ 16 million in the coffers next to the stands of their matches having only paper fans. Galo sells a ticket package for fans to go to Mineirão, represented by a doll. R $ 92 thousand was raised in the sale of the first three home games, in the resumption of games. Too little to plug the hole created by the coronavirus.
The way is to follow Atlético from afar, on television, and Sampaoli’s contact with the Alvinegra crowd is only, so far, that match against Cruzeiro (with a net income of R $ 219 thousand for El Gallo) in which he was Argentinian. in one of the Mineirão cabins, taking notes non-stop in a notebook, and already tracing the changes that radically changed the team and its intentions for 2020, on the field.
Atlético-MG (Mineirão) net income:
- – R $ 76 thousand (Sponsor)
- – R $ 79 thousand (America-MG)
- – R $ 91 thousand (Corinthians)
- – R $ 96 thousand (Ceará)
- – R $ 90.4 thousand (Tombense)
- – R $ 104.6 thousand (São Paulo)
- Total: – R $ 537 thousand
