Grupo Pachuca to the rescue of ‘La Fiera’

Image: Jorge Martinez (Mexsport)

The Estadio León (Mexico) – digs of the top-flight Club León – has been acquired recently by Grupo Pachuca, parent company of the club. Grupo Pachuca has said the deal provides certainty for the Liga MX football team amid continued efforts to develop a new home.

The ‘ESPN’ stated that the purchase of the stadium was announced as part of a “strategic decision” for the future of the club.

Estadio León has been the club’s home since it opened in March 1967, but has been owned since the 1990s by Roberto Zermeño, a former President of the team. In 2000, Zermeño reached an agreement with the Municipality of León through which it would manage the stadium for 10 years before it reverted to become his property.

However, the agreement collapsed in 2008 beginning a series of legal battles that ended in October 2020 with Zermeño taking over the reins of the stadium. This was set to see Club León move to play in the City of Aguascalientes, before the above deal struck recently between Grupo Pachuca and Zermeño in which the former acquired the club.

Club León, also known as León, is a Mexican professional football club based in León, Guanajuato (Mexico), which competes in the Liga MX, the top flight of Mexican football.

The Estadio León, unofficially known as Nou Camp, is a mid-sized football stadium with a seating capacity of 31,297 built in 1967, and located in the City of León, Guanajuato, in the Bajío region of central Mexico. It serves as the home arena of Club León.

Grupo Pachuca operates as a professional football club. The company revenue comes from matchday gate receipts, catering and the exploitation of media rights, and commercial activities. Grupo Pachuca offers its services in Mexico.

The ‘ESPN’ further stated that a statement sent out by Grupo Pachucha read, “Through the company FIiera-Capital, at Grupo Pachuca we announced the purchase of the León Stadium as a strategic decision in the future of the León Club and the institution it represents.”

The statement further read, “This acquisition staves off the risks that could arise if the stadium had other owners and guarantees that the team will never leave the City, thus assuring its staunch fans.”

The statement added, “It is an important economic effort, it is added to the investment that the group is making in the sports consolidation of the team with the construction of La Esmeralda and other projects aimed at developing the talent and progress of León’s youth through sports and education, propping up the growth of the institution as one of the most solid in Mexican football.”

Grupo Pachucha felt that with the above acquisition, ‘La Fiera’ will be able to progress on the Nuevo León Stadium project tension-free as it already has its own residence to play games in while its new home is being built.

The Nuevo León Stadium is a proposed stadium in Leon, Guanajuato. The Club León football team is expected to make it their home stadium upon its proposed completion in 2023. Its expected capacity is 35,000.

The Pachuca Group made an announcement regarding building a new home for Club León way back in September 2018. It was even said then that it is contemplated to be the most ambitious project in Latin America.

Financial terms of the above deal have not been disclosed.

In September 2018, Club León presented details of a new 35,000-seat stadium as part of a mixed-use development planned by Grupo Pachuca. Manhattan International Construction Company and architectural firm HKS won a tender process to develop Nuevo Estadio León, which is due to comprise three phases.

Phase One will encompass development of the venue. Phase Two will involve the development of a 300-room hotel attached to the facility, along with retail stores and a public gym. The final phase will lead to the construction of a football university, as well as a specialized medical clinic.

Though the project has stalled of late, but Grupo Pachuca is of the firm belief that owning the club’s current home will provide certainty for its long-term future.

The Grupo Pachuca statement further read, “If it (the deal) had not been closed this operation, and the continuity of the team in the City, would have been seriously compromised.”

Grupo Pachuca added that owners of corporate boxes will also be the beneficiaries of a financial plan allowing them to acquire similar locations in the new arena.

Grupo Pachuca promised that Club León and the community on which it sits will soon see floodgates of opportunities opening before them once work on the new stadium project gets going.

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• Estadio León
• Grupo Pachuca
• Mexico

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