Ciprian Ciucu, the general mayor of Bucharest, is disturbed by the enormous losses that the National Arena registers year after year. He is organizing a meeting today in the conference hall of the stadium with the representatives of the Professional Football League and the Romanian Football Federation to find solutions to increase the revenues of the largest stadium in Romania. All details will be transmitted in liveTEXT format on GSP.ro.
On behalf of the LPF, the president Gino Iorgulescu, Constantin Stătescu (director of the legal department) and Eduard Alexandru (director of the competitions department) will participate.
What is Ciprian Ciucu's plan?
15 years have passed since the National Arena was inaugurated during the mandate of mayor Sorin Oprescu. Since then, Gabriela Firea and Nicușor Dan, and now Ciprian Ciucu, have also taken the seat of mayor of Bucharest.
He claims that he started to “I am looking for the optimal solution to reduce these expenses and to keep the National Arena in the best shape to be able to host important sporting events, but also shows such as concerts or large festivals.”
Ciprian Ciucu. Photo: personal FB
The mayor also explained the options he has in the plan for the National Arena.
- to remain under the administration of a dedicated PMB structure
- to be concessioned, transparently, on a competitive basis to a consortium with high financial capacity, to administer it
- to develop a joint venture, also transparent and competitive, or any other formula that exploits its potential and that provides it with financing to cover maintenance, repairs and investment expenses.
Bucharest City Hall, loss of 27 million euros
From 2011 until 2025, the National Arena brought in revenues of just over 13 million euros! Instead, in terms of expenses, she was the champion: 40 million euros!
“As the state is not the best administrator, we will evaluate several options, so that the arena benefits from a predictable program over the year, but to attract large sports events and concerts that will ensure a budget that covers expenses and, why not, bring us a profit”, says Ciucu.
National Arena. Photo: Gulliver/gettyimages
What did the most money go to in the last year alone? The maintenance of the lawn alone (€1.55 million) cost more than all the football matches produced (€1.38 million)!
In 2025, there were 48 football matches, the rest non-sporting events, bringing municipalities only 432,000 euros.
|
Year |
Expenses (euro) |
Revenue (euro) |
|
2011 |
934,000 |
848,000 |
|
2012 |
2,795,000 |
440,000 |
|
2013 |
1,203,500 |
1,025,000 |
|
2014 |
938,000 |
670,000 |
|
2015 |
1,119,000 |
865,000 |
|
2016 |
781,000 |
556,000 |
|
2017 |
936,295 |
768,220 |
|
2018 |
2,374,770 |
401,600 |
|
2019 |
3,859,250 |
570,980 |
|
2020 |
4,899,000 |
439,000 |
|
2021 |
4,657,000 |
1,177,000 |
|
2022 |
3,500,000 |
1,200,000 |
|
2023 |
3,100,000 |
1,100,000 |
|
2024 |
3,900,000 |
1,200,000 |
|
2025 |
5,810,000 |
1,810,000 |
|
TOTAL |
40,806,815 |
13,070,800 |
The National Arena, a real disaster for spectators
Gazeta Sporturilor has written several times about the major problems currently facing the biggest stadium in the country. From non-functioning elevators, to broken seats to destroyed boxes, fallen walls and infiltrations as much as possible.
For example, following the winter snows, the ceiling through which the water had infiltrated began to seriously crack. Water was leaking from the ceiling, the stadium literally flooded, and those with VIP seats would have had to stay with their umbrellas open for the entire duration of the match.
Furthermore, the seats in the VIP area are patched with duct tape to mask the holes, and the seats of several seats are coming off. And in the rest of the stadium the seats are missing, after the ultras broke them, and the municipality no longer had the funds to replace them.
The discussion continues when we reach the cube in the middle of the arena, with four led monitors, the famous scoreboard that still lacks “pixels”.
FRF wants a new Europa League final in Bucharest
On May 9, 2012, the country's biggest stadium hosted the Europa League final between Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao 3-0, and now the Romanian Football Federation has submitted its bid to host another European final in 2028 or 2029.
Just yesterday, the Government of Romania and the Romanian Football Federation officially started preparations to complete the application process for hosting the final. From the FRF, the delegation was formed by: Răzvan Burleanu (president), Alexandru Cândea (events manager) and Florin Sari (social responsibility manager).
The first official steps for the UEFA Europa League final: The first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee took place. Photo: frf.ro
According to the FRF, the operational foundations of the project were established during the meeting. Main items on the agenda included:
- Organization Regulation. The operating regulations of the Committee were officially adopted.
- Analysis of Guarantees. The specific documents and commitments that the Romanian state must assume before the European forum were reviewed.
- Implementation schedule. An accelerated work pace was established to meet the UEFA deadlines.
