Kalil: 'If shopping malls were good, Barça and Real would have five'
Former Atlético-MG president and current mayor of Belo Horizonte, Alexandre Kalil, visited the club's headquarters and expressed his support for the proposal of a new stadium for 'Galo' (Atlético-MG's nickname); the multi-purpose arena project envisions a capacity for 41.800 fans; the construction is budgeted at R$ 410 million; “The summary of everything is this: if shopping malls were good, Barcelona would have five and Real Madrid would have five. So shopping malls aren't good. What's good is a stadium,” stated Kalil, citing the most controversial point of the project, which is the sale of 50,1% of the Diamond Mall shopping center for R$ 250 million to enable the stadium's construction.
Mines 247 - Former Atlético-MG president and mayor of Belo Horizonte, Alexandre Kalil, attended the club's headquarters on Monday morning (18) and expressed his support for the proposal for a new stadium for 'Galo'. The multi-purpose stadium project foresees a capacity for 41.800 fans, in the Califórnia neighborhood, Northwest Region of BH. The work is budgeted at R$ 410 million.
"The summary of everything is this: if shopping malls were good, Barcelona would have five and Real Madrid would have five. So shopping malls aren't good. What's good is a stadium," stated Kalil, citing the most controversial point of the project, which is the sale of 50,1% of Diamond Mall for R$ 250 million to enable the construction of the arena.
To finance the construction, the club plans to receive R$ 60 million from the sale of naming rights to MRV and R$ 100 million from the sale of reserved seats (60% of this amount is guaranteed by BMG). Another R$ 250 million comes from the sale of Diamond Mall, a shopping center in the Central-South region of Belo Horizonte. This would be the club's contribution to the construction.
Kalil expressed confidence regarding the project's approval. “We will authorize a commission that we will form with all segments of Atlético to determine the best way to build the stadium for Atlético. Yes, we will approve the construction of the stadium, but we will not drag Atlético into an adventure. We will ensure that Atlético's stadium is well-built, carefully constructed, with zeal, as everything has been done here at Atlético lately,” he added.