Value-driven club Cruz Azul societal endeavors

Article posted by Coliseum, July 11^th, 2025

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Rodrigo Yavarone works as the Business Development Head of the Mexican professional football club Cruz Azul and his job requires him to focus on expanding the club’s reach and revenue through strategic initiatives.

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He finds the role “interesting and challenging” and says that the club’s Owner – Cooperativa La Cruz Azul, S.C.L. – who own a cement company by the same name – is into social work and has established hospitals, hotels and schools.

Rodrigo Yavarone is presently the Head of Business Development, Image and Communications, with the Liga MX team – the top-flight football club of Mexico – Cruz Azul. With over 10 years of experience in sports management Yavarone is an executive with a solid background in Marketing and Business Development within the sports and entertainment industry.

James A. Renne is a Senior Vice-President and National Sports Director at JLL with more than 25 years of experience in creating innovative Sports and Entertainment destinations and world- class athletic facilities. With his extensive sports planning and architecture experience Renne understands the multifaceted objectives of the stakeholders in the industry and works closely with his clients to make their vision a reality.

Rodrigo Yavarone, Head of Business Development, Cruz Azul, Mexico, tells James A. Renne, AIA Americas Director, Sports and Entertainment, JLL, Mexico, in an exclusive for ‘Coliseum’ that the Cruz Azul is a club which “thinks beyond football” and is committed to social responsibility and community engagement. He affirms, “Our objective lies in not just winning trophies but the club also believes in representing the values of its fans.” He also touches on the extensive redevelopment work going on at the Cruz Azul home – the Estadio Azteca in Mexico for the 2026 FIFA extraordinaire. The Estadio Azteca is considered to be the sacred ground in the soccer world and is a unique and legendary venue.

Cruz Azul

The Cruz Azul is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football. The Estadio Azteca serves as their home ground but presently the top-grade club is playing its home matches at the 72,000-capacity Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City, Mexico, due to extensive renovation works going on at the Estadio Azteca for the 2026 FIFA World Cup™.

Estadio Azteca

The Estadio Azteca is a football stadium located in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico. It serves as the digs of Cruz Azul. The stadium sits at an altitude of 2,200 m (7,200 feet) above the sea level. With a capacity to accommodate 87,523 spectators it is the largest stadium in Latin America and the sixth-largest association football stadium in the world.

Rodrigo Yavarone tells James A. Renne that the iconic venue Estadio Azteca closed last May for redecoration work ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ to be hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada. He informs Renne that a hybrid field, updated locker rooms, elevators, and hospitality zones are among the new features of the Azteca Stadium.

The historic venue will reopen in March 2026 and the 87,523-capacity venue will host five games including the tournament opener for the FIFA extravaganza.

Yavarone tells Renne beaming with pride that “We are very proud of our stadium and also about the fact that the Estadio Azteca also hosted the first matches in the 1970 and 1986 World Cups. The total spruce-up of the stadium will help Cruz Azul to come even closer to their fans. I feel that Cruz Azul should pull out all stops to show their pitch prowess which will give enough reasons to the fans to be proud of the top-notch club.”

Talking about the business part of the top-notch club with Renne he further informed, “The Cruz Azul is also the marketing platform of the rest of the business units of our Owner and we are very particular about representing the values of the cement company per se.”

Social Responsibility

Yavarone says that apart from keeping the cash registers jingling from the business of football the Cruz Azul has a strong history of social responsibility focusing on community development, healthcare and disaster relief. The club believes in enriching the lives of the community on which their home venue sits – “We also have a youth football academy known as the Cruz Azul Academy where we train the youths and they also interact with the players. This is something which holds great significance for us and we hope it will leave a lasting legacy.”

Wrap-up

He says that the club’s Owner – Cooperativa La Cruz Azul, S.C.L. which owns a cement company – believes in producing high-quality cement “and we also believe in selecting the pick of the litter players for Cruz Azul because quality matters the most.”

Rodrigo Yavarone wrapped up his talk by telling James A. Renne, “My job role also requires me to bring sponsors for the club but more than money which is good what is most important for us is to know if societal values drive these companies. We hope to do brisk business once the state-of-the-art Estadio Azteca reopens. We are focused on the on-field performance of Cruz Azul but at the same time beyond the club’s football achievements it is equally focused on social well-being through various outreach programs and this is what makes us feel proud about our club.”

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