Why Fluminense open the North stand before the Upper East at Maracanã | OneFootball

Fluminense's fans often demand on social media the early opening of the Upper East sector of Maracanã, especially in high-profile games. However, the club adopts a different strategy: before opening the East, it prefers to make tickets available for the North sector, and the reason goes beyond logistics and operational costs, it involves the visual aspect in TV broadcasts.

In participation in the ge podcast, reporter Edgard Maciel de Sá detailed Fluminense's view:

“I even asked if they were going to open the Upper East, and the answer was: if they sell more in other sectors, yes, they will open it. The North is already open. People often criticize this decision, but Fluminense's idea is to first open the North, because, when they don't open anything there, it is completely empty. In the broadcast, when Flu attacks to that side, it gives the impression that the stadium is empty, even with 30, 35, 40 thousand people present.”

According to him, the Upper East appears little in the broadcasts, usually only at the teams' entrance. The North is constantly displayed and, when empty, can convey a distorted image of empty stands.

Occupation strategy

With this, the club believes it is more advantageous to start sales by the North, ensuring movement in the sector and improving the visual aspect of the games. The Upper East is only opened when the demand for tickets increases, as happened recently in the confrontation against Bahia, for the Brazil Cup.

Debate with the fans

The measure, however, divides opinions. Many fans argue that the Upper East should be available from the beginning, as it is a more popular and accessible sector, which would help to attract even more public. The board, however, stands firm in the current strategy, understanding that the visual of the packed stadium is also part of the show.

Fluminense maintains this model for tomorrow's game against Lanús: first open the North and, according to demand, open the Upper East. For the duel against the Argentine team, for example, the sector has not yet been made available for ticket sales, given that just over 30 thousand tickets have been sold.

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