Corporate box owners in Mexico are still uncertain about their properties for the 2026 World Cup
Roberto Ruano, the secretary of an association of box owners, poses for a portrait in his skybox during an interview at a Kings League Americas soccer game at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A corporate box owner at the iconic Azteca stadium filed a complaint with Mexico’s consumer protection agency Tuesday seeking clarity over his use of the seating for the 2026 World Cup.
The stadium, recently renamed Banorte ahead of next year’s tournament, has been closed for renovations since May of last year.
FIFA wants full control of the World Cup stadiums from 30 days before the first match until seven days after the last. It’s unclear what that means for the owners of the luxury seating.
“The consumer wants to know if his rights to use his box during the World Cup are going to be upheld,” said Angel Diego, a lawyer representing one of the luxury box owners who asked to remain anonymous. “We are inviting the company that owns the stadium to express clearly what their intentions are.”
The history of how the boxes were purchased makes things complicated.
To help finance the construction of the stadium in the 1960s, Mexican businessman Emilio Azcárraga Milmo sold luxury 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.
But for the 2026 World Cup, the stadium owners are asking the luxury box owners to relinquish their access.
“There is only one solution and that is that they respect our contract. The World Cup is 408 days ahead. We have plenty of time to work this out,” said Roberto Ruano, a spokesman for the association of 134 box owners. “It is not a request; we have the right to use them.”
The 83,000-seat stadium will host five games during the 2026 World Cup, including the tournament opener.
The owners of the stadium, a company related to Televisa, Mexico’s largest television network, have released images of work done on the pitch and the lower seats, but the corporate boxes apparently haven’t been touched.
Ruano, whose father bought the title for a luxury box, said the box owners have been talking with stadium officials for about a year but haven’t reached a resolution.
“For the moment we are not going to do anything because we are still in amicable discussions with the stadium and we do not want to break them,” Ruano added. “The doors are open, the dialog has not been interrupted.”
Last week, stadium officials said that a solution to the conflict was close, but didn’t provide more specifics.
Ruano says that some box owners outside of his association have agreed to release their seats for the 2026 tournament in exchange for upgrades and other benefits, including tickets, but he doesn’t want that.
“My box belongs to me, we have a designated space already and that is what we want,” Ruano said. “We are going to give them more time to try to fix this before doing something else.”
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