The transfer of two matches of the Russian national team in the framework of the qualifying tournament of the European Championship 2008 from the Lokomotiv stadium, as well as the alleged disqualification of this arena for the next game of the CSKA Champions League - Arsenal, will hit VIP fans hardest of all. Not only will the habit of watching football from individual lodges have to step on the throat, no one will refund the money spent on renting such a lodge: the agreement with Lokomotiv is concluded not for one match, but for a whole year. Izvestia found out what hardships wealthy fans will have to experience.
The youngest Moscow Lokomotiv stadium has 55 individual lodges for VIP guests. Part of the boxes is designed for 10 people, part - for 24. Depending on the capacity and location relative to the field, the price ranges from 50 to 120 thousand euros per year. Basically, according to the deputy commercial director of Lokomotiv Elena Serebryakova, large Russian companies buy the lodges, but there are also private individuals. One way or another, the tenant receives year-round access to the selected box, including, of course, the days of any football matches at Lokomotiv.
This type of pain, when a person seems to be in the thick of things, but at the same time exclusively in his company, in a glazed, well-heated room, quickly gained popularity among wealthy Muscovites (stadiums in other cities of Russia simply do not offer such a service). Last year, there were several unsold lodges on Lokomotiv that the club could rent for one match, today, according to Serebryakova, only for a year: “And then not all applications were able to be satisfied; we now have a queue. probably raise prices. "
If price increases are only awaiting VIP tenants, then another nuisance has already happened to them. The Russian team, not satisfied with the quality of the lawn at the Lokomotiv stadium, decided to leave this arena for the next two matches. The game with Israel will take place this Saturday at Dynamo, and next Wednesday the national team will meet with Estonia in St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, many, spending money on VIP lodges in Cherkizovo, did this with the expectation that it would be possible to see the national team's matches. Among the tenants are not only, and not so much the fans. For some, this is a matter of status and personal ambition: to invite friends or business partners to football in their own VIP box. The match of the Russian championship “Lokomotiv” - “Moscow”, which will take place next week, for all its tournament importance, does not quite fit the category of “status”; the team is another matter. Now those who bought the lodges had an occasion to be upset.
“We have no complaints and cannot be,” Serebryakova replies. “The lease agreement doesn’t mention specific matches at all. And we don’t promise our team’s games. Of course, we say that this is possible, but we can only guarantee 15 matches Lokomotiv in the national championship.
Serebryakova recalls that in addition to Lokomotiv, VIP customers can watch CSKA matches in the current Champions League. Although here it will not do without an overlay, to which the stadium, however, is completely not involved. The fact is that the match between the army and the London “Arsenal” is likely to take place in the empty stands. Izvestia wrote in detail that army fans who threw fireworks on the field during the recent CSKA-Hamburg game provoked a regular meeting of the UEFA disciplinary committee. It ended on Thursday after signing the issue in print.
It turns out that in October, the most intense month of football, customers of VIP-boxes in Cherkizovo will not see either the national team or the Champions League.
On the “Locomotive” do not lose heart. “We will solve the problem with the field, and the Russian team, I think, will come back to us. Where, for example, you can play with England, if not ours?” - says Serebryakova.
At Dynamo, meanwhile, phones are melting from the calls of wealthy fans. “We have already regretted so many times that there are so few VIP lodges!” Andrey Simonov, executive director of the oldest Moscow stadium, laments. “If there were twice as many of them, everyone would have gone like pies. Huge interest.”
Simonov outlined the possibilities that his stadium has to meet VIP needs: “There is a central government box for 70 people, there is another, slightly smaller box on the opposite platform. In addition, this year we added another 5 small boxes, each on 20. Three of them were immediately bought for the whole season - the price is from 30 to 45 thousand dollars, depending on the location, and we also leased two more free ones for a match with Israel for 120 thousand rubles. many times more, but what we can offer you. You know, we have a stadium built in 1928. When we build a new one, we’ll
Chrmen DZGOEV