Crisis, losses and Morumbi gigs, São Paulo members worst since 2022 | 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 कोविड-19 pandemic.

The drastic reduction in the number of members raises a financial warning at Morumbi, since revenue from this segment 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 payroll:

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

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

Impact on payroll: The amount no longer coming in is equivalent to more than one full month of the football department’s salary 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: Inconsistent results and the lack of recent titles 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 perceived advantage for members: priority and discounts when buying tickets.

Change in Program Management

Tricolor is close to changing the management of its supporter membership program. This is because management is expected to be handed over to Ticketmaster, the company the club has also hired to handle ticket sales.

The agreement with Ticketmaster is expected to guarantee an advance 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 has been facing. The amount requested by the board at the time was slightly 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 supporter membership program, São Paulo will have to pay the termination penalty in Feng’s contract, which had been renewed at the beginning of 2025 by former marketing director Eduardo Toni (with an 11% clause 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 supporter membership program, and Morumbi’s surface rights.

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 ties, since the company is part of the same holding group 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 Morumbi’s surface rights, potentially reaching an investment of close to R$ 500 million in the long term (8 to 10 years) to pay off costly bank debts.

At the same time as the ticketing competition, 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.