Naming deal may iron out Santos fiscal woes

Article posted by Coliseum, August 29^th, 2024

Image: Vila Belmiro, Emerson.figueira, Public Domain

The Brazilian club Santos FC has sold the naming rights of its home stadium – the Vila Belmiro in Santos, Brazil – to the financial investment company Viva Sorte which markets capitalization bonds. The club hopes the naming deal will help them to come out of the fiscal woods.

‘INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL’ stated that as part of the deal the Santos FC home venue will be known as the Vila Viva Sorte.

The Santos FC is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a bairro in the City of Santos (State of São Paulo, Brazil). It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the State of São Paulo’s premier State league, as well as in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, the second tier of the Brazilian football league system, after getting relegated in the 2023 season for the first time in the club’s history.

The 16,068-capacity Urbano Caldeira Stadium, also known as the Vila Belmiro, is an association football stadium located in the Vila Belmiro neighborhood of Santos, São Paulo (Brazil) and is the home of Santos FC.

‘INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL’ further stated that the 10-year deal between the Santos FC, the club for whom the soccer legend Pelé played from 1956 to 1974, and Viva Sorte is reportedly worth RS15 million ($2.7 million) on an annual basis. The club approved the deal at a Director-level meeting.

Last season, Santos was relegated to the second division for the first time in their 111-year history after losing to the Fortaleza Esporte Clube – which now plays in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (the top of the Brazilian football league system) – on the final day of the campaign.

The relegation further added to Santos FC’s fiscal woes with debts now having surpassed RS600 million ($110 million), up from RS578 million when the club reins were in the hands of the previous Chairman Andres Rueda. The present Chairman is Marcelo Teixeira.

With the naming rights deal struck, the stadium operators are hopeful of generating more revenue apart from welcoming more Members into the club fold and focusing on the transfer of the players.

Santos FC remains Brazil’s best football team of all time and the club is still basking in Pelé’s glory. The soccer giant Pelé helped the club to gain a strong foothold in the football firmament globally with the club having won the Copa Libertadores (the highest level of competition in South American club football) twice under the tutelage of the soccer legend.

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