Crisis, defeats and gigs at Morumbi, São Paulo memberships at 2022 low | OneFootball

In poor form on the pitch, without a win since the end of May and in free fall in the Brazilian Championship, São Paulo seems to have definitively lost the confidence of its fans.

The Morumbi club is facing a major exodus from its membership program. The latest update shows that Tricolor currently has fewer than 30,000 active primary members, the lowest number of subscribers since January 2022, when the world began returning to normal after the covid-19 pandemic.

The drastic reduction in the number of members raises a financial red flag at Morumbi, since revenue from the program had been one of the main sources of recurring income for São Paulo’s coffers.

Projected Budget Impact

The drop in the number of members cuts by nearly half the average maintained by the club in previous seasons, directly affecting the payroll:

Recent history: In 2024 and the previous year, the program maintained an average of more than 50,000 active participants, generating annual revenue in the range of R$ 55 million to R$ 60 million.

Projected losses: With the total reduced to fewer than 30,000 people, estimated annual revenue is expected to fall short by approximately R$ 25 million.

Weight on payroll: The amount no longer coming in is equivalent to more than one full month of the football department’s wage bill.

Reasons for the Mass Cancellations

The exodus of members is driven by a combination of sporting, administrative, and logistical factors:

Political and institutional crisis: The wear and tear caused by controversies and scandals during the administrations of presidents Julio Casares and Harry Massis has generated strong dissatisfaction among fans.

On-field performance: The inconsistency in results and the lack of recent titles have accelerated the wave of cancellations.

Absence from Morumbi: The frequency of concerts and events at São Paulo’s stadium has kept the team away from home for several rounds, reducing the main benefit perceived by members: priority access and discounts on ticket purchases.

Change in Program Management

Tricolor is close to changing the management of its membership program. This is because the administration is expected to be handed over to Ticketmaster, the company with which the club has also signed for the organization of its ticket sales.

The deal with Ticketmaster is expected to secure an advance payment of R$ 140 million from its new partner.

As AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR reported in advance at the end of July, the Morumbi club had been seeking an advance on funds from the new partnership in order to somewhat ease the financial crisis it is going through. The amount requested by the board at the time was a little higher, at R$ 250 million.

To be finalized, the change in ticketing company still needs final approval from the club’s governance bodies, including review by the Deliberative Council.

To take over the membership program, São Paulo will have to pay the termination penalty of Feng’s contract, which had been renewed at the beginning of 2025 by former marketing director Eduardo Toni (with a clause of 11% on the first monthly payment of new members).

São Paulo’s board also evaluated a competing proposal from NewC worth R$ 500 million — the company responsible for facial recognition at Palmeiras’ stadium.

The offer included taking over the box office operations, the membership program, and the surface rights to Morumbi.

However, the club’s bylaws prohibit the president from assigning surface rights, making the deal with NewC unfeasible and sealing the partnership with Ticketmaster, with whom São Paulo already had close ties, given that the company is part of the same holding company as Live Nation, also a Tricolor partner for staging concerts at Morumbi.

The asset-based proposal provides for the creation of a Real Estate Investment Fund (FII) linked to the surface rights of Morumbi, potentially reaching an investment of close to R$ 500 million in the long term (8 to 10 years) to pay off costly bank debts.

Parallel to the box office bidding process, the Danish company NewC — which took part in the original bidding process —, together with a financial partner, presented the club’s political groups with an alternative offer focused on debt restructuring.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.