São Paulo set for fourth home in Brasileirão, Bahia match in Bragança | OneFootball

São Paulo has asked the CBF to schedule its match against Bahia, on May 3 (Sunday), at 4 p.m. (Brasília time), in the Brazilian Championship, at Estádio Cícero de Souza Marques, in Bragança Paulista (SP).

The request was made because Morumbi will not be available on the date of the match due to concerts by Canadian singer The Weeknd on April 30 and May 1. Therefore, on match day, the stage will still be being dismantled and the pitch cleaned up.

The request has not yet been answered by the country’s top football governing body.

Cícero de Souza Marques is something of a temporary home for Bragantino, while the club renovates the traditional Nabi Abi Chedid. Small and cramped, the venue holds just over 11,000 people. But it does have its historical importance, because it was there that Tricolor managed to end its winless run away from home against the hosts since they were bought by an Austrian drinks company.

It is the second home-venue change for Tricolor caused by The Weeknd. The match against Mirassol, on the 25th (Saturday) in the Brasileirão, was rescheduled for Brinco de Ouro, in Campinas (SP).

Earlier, in March, São Paulo had already been left without a home because of AC/DC’s three performances at its stadium, and used Canindé as the venue for the clash against Chapecoense in the Brasileirão.

The Portuguesa stadium, in fact, had been seen as São Paulo’s home for these situations, as stated by director Rui Costa himself, but the conditions did not please the Morumbi club.

And Tricolor will be without Morumbi on a few other occasions this season. Right after the World Cup break, it will be occupied by British singer Harry Styles, who will perform on July 17, 18, 21 and 24. Then in October, South Korean group BTS will hold concerts at the stadium on the 28th, 30th and 31st.

For the second half of the year, there may be an unusual alternative: the meeting between São Paulo president Harry Massis and the state governor, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos), at the end of March, served for more than just a routine inspection of the progress of the flood-control basin works around Morumbi. Tarcísio also took the opportunity to move forward with an agreement with the club so it can use Ibirapuera Stadium as an alternative for its matches when Morumbi is given over to concerts.

A traditional venue for Brazilian athletics, Ícaro de Castro Mello, which is part of the sports complex that includes Ginásio do Ibirapuera in the south zone of São Paulo, is in the final stage of renovation. The project is being carried out through a partnership between the São Paulo State Housing and Urban Development Company and the Sports Department, with estimated investment of around R$ 70 million. The initiative aims to restore the stadium’s architectural complex based on three guidelines: preserving its original features, adapting it to the rules of modern athletics in accordance with World Athletics, and meeting accessibility and safety standards.

The plan of Tarcísio’s state administration is to stage matches involving major São Paulo clubs at Ibirapuera to show how successful the renovation has been and thus attract interest in the project to privatize the complex.

The club maintains that the concerts are extremely profitable. According to marketing director Eduardo Toni, São Paulo netted nearly R$ 15 million from AC/DC’s three performances at Morumbi, which drew a total crowd of more than 210,000 people.

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