Bombonera 360, Esloveno Plus or stadium on an island? Projects at Boca Juniors to expand the field

Since its inauguration on May 25, 1940, the Bombonera has undergone some minor construction modifications if we consider the cement monster that it has become due to its structure and fundamentally due to its mystique. In the long-term plans of former President Camilo Cichero (the promoter of its construction), who gave his name to the stage which was called that from 1986 to 2000 when it was modified by the current Alberto J Armando, included the demolition of the box estate which was barely reformed during the first administration of Mauricio Macri in the mid-90s. of the electronic map, in the Ribera, much more has been said than materialized regarding a sensible expansion.

Today, with an obvious capacity problem due to the enormous corporate mass of the institution, expansion projects will be one of the transcendent themes of the 2023 campaign. He will always refuse in front of the microphones, but it is unavoidable to mention that the recent renovations of the stadium of River Plate, which has become the one with the largest reception capacity in Argentina, have generated a lot of noise inside.

Faced with the December elections, each political sector has its own idea. Jorge Amor Ameal It supports the ruling party’s plan with its Bombonera 360 launched before the 2015 elections. There is also an apolitical skit, the Esloveno Plus, run by a club employee. And the latent possibility of building a new Bombonera comes from the opposition, more precisely from the sector of Jorge Real. For its part, Andres Ibarra (an adversary promoted by Macri) will first study each of the expansion proposals at Brandsen 805 to determine if it is viable; Otherwise, he would also be inclined to build another court.

BOMBONIA BOX 360

This is the project that Jorge Ameal has bet on since the 2015 campaign, in which he lost to Daniel Angelici. He supported the idea four years later, when with the advent of Juan Román Riquelme, he won the elections against Christian Gribaudo, an angelic candidate. The Master Plan contemplates the original idea of ​​the Delpini-Sulcic-Bes workshop, author of the construction of La Bombonera, to form the complete ring symmetrically. As? Demolish the boxes facing Dr. del Valle Iberlucea street and build three terraces identical to those of the west-facing stalls by buying the two half-blocks between Aristóbulo del Valle, Antonio L. Solezzi and Brandsen streets (more than Iberlucea Valley). In this way, the stadium would have a capacity of between 78 thousand and 80 thousand viewerswith chances of installing a light roof on the perimeter.

The ruling party is not discussing the possibility of building a new stadium, at least for now. Since the start of management at the end of 2019, the Works Department has managed several modifications that have given it a facelift, from interior and exterior painting to bathrooms, lighting, etc. Moreover, with Riquelme’s agreement, the playing field’s drainage system, which had caused so much inconvenience to the club in recent years, was replaced. However, regarding the project proposed during the campaign, little progress has been made. The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the development time of the master plan and the resignation of Mario Pergolini, who was going to personally take charge of carrying out a survey of the inhabitants of the district to verify the intention to sell each of the 129 dwellings, meant another setback.

In what situation is Bombonera 360 today? Ameal will present a rezoning project to the Legislative Assembly of Buenos Aires which will have to be evaluated by the competent authorities. This would be the first step in a large approval process that could cover the rest of the year (in other words, it is not until 2024 that there would be reliable facts about the completion of the project). This media was able to discover that in Boca they will need a parliamentary initiative to move forward, that is, one of the 60 legislators must take ownership of the project for its presentation. What they are asking the opposition is why the leaders are going directly to a government body without having first dealt with the owners and also pointing out that this rezoning project would in fact be a disguised expropriation. For the moment, from the direction, they continue the redistribution of the seats to gain places: at the beginning of next year, the Bombonera would have a capacity of almost 60,000 spectators.

SLOVENIAN MORE

This plan is apolitical and is promoted by club member and employee Fabián Fiori, who in 2016 summoned the engineers who designed the Slovenian project that the Angelici government vetoed in 2019. Now Fiori has changed the group of professionals who would develop the work and presented some improvements over the initial idea, which is why Plus was added to his name: “It’s the smart solution to the initial project that can’t be done”. Basically, the capacity will be increased from the 10,000/12,000 initially planned to around 25,000 (the Bombonera would thus house around 80,000 people). In addition, the curvature of the original design would be respected, the streets would not be cut and the Dr. del Valle Iberlucea street would not be covered, which would only suffer a displacement of a few meters.

Fiori, who currently performs administrative tasks with the reserve team in Boca, assured this outlet that he had the agreement of the neighbors: “If they are respected as citizens, they are listened to, summoned and integrated into a project, they will sell”. The works envisage the purchase of the first and second line of front lots to build a grandstand similar to that of the Bombonera 360 project, that is, to finish shape the oval. Through this project, Boca would not have to buy all the properties but half of them. Moreover, it would not block traffic on the surrounding street and In 15 months, the first team could play at home with 80,000 people. The question to be resolved is the relocation of border neighbors who have businesses next to the land, because in addition to looking for a new place to live, they should maintain their source of work. Besides what concerns the Bombonera and the club, a commercial promenade with top brand stores is promised, a tribute tower with a tourist observer and the union of the Usina del Arte with the Transporter Bridge and Caminito, with the generation of spaces for outdoor performances.

At the beginning of the functions of the current board of directors, Fiori presented the plan to Ameal, Pergolini and Carlos Navarro (head of the works department) with a model and the intention of selling each neighbor, but the president ruled out this option and held firm with 360. However, he will seek to present his project to Juan roman riquelme and those who accompany him on his list in the December elections with the latent desire that his wish be granted. However, sectors of the opposition (for example, Andrés Ibarra, promoted by Mauricio Macri) have also contacted Fiori to discuss questions about this model which, having no political orientation, is accessible to anyone who wishes to materialize it.

NEW BOMBONIA (DEMARCHI ISLAND)

“We can have the best and biggest stadium on the continent; one like the one that the more than 315,000 members of Boca deserve and which could be one of the main venues for the 2030 World Cup.” The statements correspond to Jorge Reale, one of the leaders of the opposition, who has visited a few days ago Isla Demarchi, a land located just over a kilometer from La Bombonera at the southern end of Puerto Madero and belonging to the neighborhood of La Boca, where the shipyards, port warehouses and the Costanera thermal power station. According to the surveys carried out by the architectural firm, the ground would allow the construction of a stadium in the sector. The former president of Estudiantes de La Plata, the architect Enrique Lombardi (directed the construction of the Uno del pincha and the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero), would be responsible for building the stadium with the largest capacity in the world : 128,000 viewers.

The Boca Juniors Sports City operated on a 12-hectare land that constitutes Demarchi Island in the 1960s and 1970s. And there was the truncated dream of former President Alberto J. Armando to build a new Bombonera with a capacity of 150,000 people who aspired to be inaugurated. on May 25, 1975 and to host the 78 World Cup. The main thing is how Boca will seize the lands that belong to the national government: this opposition sector has already started contacts to seek options regarding their assignment. At the same time, potential Boca executives will need to coordinate with Buenos Aires city government authorities in the rezoning and planning of new roads connecting the island to the neighborhood. Currently, the closest land access from La Bombonera to Demarchi Island is via Avenida Don Pedro de Mendoza to Avenida Elvira Rawson de Dellepiane. How do you plan to restructure revenues and decentralize audiences? By means of four bridges (three for pedestrians and one for vehicles) that would cross the Darsena Sur river.

To cover the costs of the pharaonic project with a capacity of 128,000 spectators (it will be 107,000 if the law which will oblige clubs to cover 75% of their grounds with seats is maintained), Reale is thinking of foreign capital and presale new subscriptions with an easy account: if 30,000 seats are sold at $500 each for a period of ten years, they will pocket $150 million; that is to say half of the estimated cost for all the work.

Another fundamental point is to determine what will happen to the current Bombonera in the future. In principle, the ideas are to host women’s and youth football matches, as well as smaller matches and special events. In the meantime, they want it to become a sort of Roman Colosseum, with tours for tourists on days when there is no football.

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