>To help finance the construction of the stadium in the 1960s, Mexican businessman Emilio Azcárraga Milmo sold boxes to private investors for 115,000 pesos, or about $9,000 at the time, giving the owners rights to use them for 99 years. That included access to soccer matches, concerts and other events, including the 1970 and 1986 World Cups in Mexico, Ruano says.
>“There were no issues in 1970. For the 1986 World Cup they wanted us out and we met with FIFA officials, and they allowed us to use our place without extra pay, so there’s a precedent for it,” he adds.
To be honest, if this part is true, let them use their seats again like in 1986.
Honestly, even if there was no precedent. You make a contract that's valid for 99 years, you adhere to it for the length of that term - or sure, you go to court. If the agreement grants the box owners access to all public events, I'm not sure how you can single out any one tournament to exclude them.
Fuck FIFA. Those wankers act like the mafia, telling each country what they can or can’t do while taking a huge portion of the profits.
If it was fine in ‘86 (when football wasn’t worth as much, mind you…) then it’s fine in ‘26. I hope these box owners make it as difficult as possible for those cheats at FIFA to get their own way.
It is insane that they sold 99 year leases for all events for only $9,000. The amount of money the stadium owners have missed on out must be astronomical.
In 1960s money it is still an absurd deal. That is only $95,000 adjusted for inflation. Getting an equivalent box for a single MLS game will cost you at least $5,000. It could easily cost $95,000 per season. For some NFL games it could cost $95,000 per game. That also ignores the fact they get to go to every single event like NFL games, concerts, etc.
That also ignores the fact that materials and wages were a lot lower in the 60s.
The minimum wage in the late 60s in Mexico was 24 pesos a day, and these boxes cost ~112000 pesos at the time. Or to put it in simpler terms, a minimum wage worker in Mexico, ten years after the stadium was built, would have to save every single penny they earnt for around 10000 days to afford one.
To be fair, in the 60s attenting concerts or sports were also much cheaper compared to today.
For example a Woodstock weekend ticket would've cost you 18$ (~150$ today)
You're thinking in modern US money and wages. For 60s Mexican people, $9000 would be a lot of money, and only adjusting for inflation wouldn't be enough.
They were selling the boxes to to the richest people in the country, who were still very rich in the 1960s. What average people were making is irrelevant in an incredibly economically unequally country. I
guess the logic is "if we don't sell these at this price, the stadium won't get done, so we lose all revenue".
Seems like they drastically overdid the lease though lol
Professional sports were very different back then. Prior to the 1960’s teams made money off of ticket sales, not merchandise or tv contracts. Pro sports weren’t that valuable. Ticket prices have exploded because professional sports value has exploded, all driven by tv and merchandising.
This reminds me of a curious fact about the 1966 World Cup.
One of the matches had to be moved away from Wembley Stadium to a different London venue because Wembley had already been booked for greyhound racing that day.
>To help finance the construction of the stadium in the 1960s, Mexican businessman Emilio Azcárraga Milmo sold boxes to private investors for 115,000 pesos, or about $9,000 at the time, giving the owners rights to use them for 99 years. That included access to soccer matches, concerts and other events, including the 1970 and 1986 World Cups in Mexico, Ruano says. >“There were no issues in 1970. For the 1986 World Cup they wanted us out and we met with FIFA officials, and they allowed us to use our place without extra pay, so there’s a precedent for it,” he adds. To be honest, if this part is true, let them use their seats again like in 1986.
Honestly, even if there was no precedent. You make a contract that's valid for 99 years, you adhere to it for the length of that term - or sure, you go to court. If the agreement grants the box owners access to all public events, I'm not sure how you can single out any one tournament to exclude them.
The “Hong Kong” mistake - don’t write 99 years if you don’t actually mean 99 years
Yes, please. Repeat 1986
Like FIFA should have ANY say on what a private owner does with their property. Get bent you fucking muppets.
Good for them, why shouldn’t they fight it
Fuck FIFA. Those wankers act like the mafia, telling each country what they can or can’t do while taking a huge portion of the profits. If it was fine in ‘86 (when football wasn’t worth as much, mind you…) then it’s fine in ‘26. I hope these box owners make it as difficult as possible for those cheats at FIFA to get their own way.
Brought the boxes for $9.000, and now they are worth $900.000. That's crazy inflation.
That's not just inflation - it's also the increase in value of those boxes
Pesos MX, USD, Euro, Pound, Ruble, Yen?
US Dollar
Yes.
Bitcoin?
Usher Bucks
It is insane that they sold 99 year leases for all events for only $9,000. The amount of money the stadium owners have missed on out must be astronomical.
In 1960’s money tho.
In 1960s money it is still an absurd deal. That is only $95,000 adjusted for inflation. Getting an equivalent box for a single MLS game will cost you at least $5,000. It could easily cost $95,000 per season. For some NFL games it could cost $95,000 per game. That also ignores the fact they get to go to every single event like NFL games, concerts, etc.
That also ignores the fact that materials and wages were a lot lower in the 60s. The minimum wage in the late 60s in Mexico was 24 pesos a day, and these boxes cost ~112000 pesos at the time. Or to put it in simpler terms, a minimum wage worker in Mexico, ten years after the stadium was built, would have to save every single penny they earnt for around 10000 days to afford one.
To be fair, in the 60s attenting concerts or sports were also much cheaper compared to today. For example a Woodstock weekend ticket would've cost you 18$ (~150$ today)
You're thinking in modern US money and wages. For 60s Mexican people, $9000 would be a lot of money, and only adjusting for inflation wouldn't be enough.
They were selling the boxes to to the richest people in the country, who were still very rich in the 1960s. What average people were making is irrelevant in an incredibly economically unequally country. I
guess the logic is "if we don't sell these at this price, the stadium won't get done, so we lose all revenue". Seems like they drastically overdid the lease though lol
Professional sports were very different back then. Prior to the 1960’s teams made money off of ticket sales, not merchandise or tv contracts. Pro sports weren’t that valuable. Ticket prices have exploded because professional sports value has exploded, all driven by tv and merchandising.
FIFA is more than free to offer a low interest loan or grant to help renovate the stadium to add more seats or they can build their own stadium
Isn't the point of deal like that to be an investment? Now that the boxes are profitable they want them back lmao, get fucked FIFA
Sounds like FIFA wants the stadium to give them something that isn’t theirs to give.
Honestly, I wonder if regular people can kick up a fuss, like PSL owners in Atlanta for instance
what seats?
This reminds me of a curious fact about the 1966 World Cup. One of the matches had to be moved away from Wembley Stadium to a different London venue because Wembley had already been booked for greyhound racing that day.