The upcoming match between Lazio and Juventus is drawing near, a fixture that could prove decisive in the race for a Champions League spot. While ticket pre-sales show good numbers, a concern has emerged regarding the potential large presence of Juventus supporters in sections theoretically reserved for the Rome-based club`s fans.
Addressing this sensitive matter publicly was Marco Canigiani, Lazio`s Head of Marketing Strategy and Club Coordinator. He presented the club`s official stance during an interview on Radiosei.
“Currently, there are still 1500 seats available in the Distinti Sud-Est sector. We had four days of exclusive sales for Lazio fans, four days, which is not a short period, and only 4,000 tickets were sold. As of today, the Maestrelli stand is empty, so why should it be a problem to divide it in two (the section next to the guest sector will be allocated to Juventus fans) and place Juve fans near the away section for security reasons? This controversy comes up every time.”
“If 30,000 tickets had been sold during the exclusive sales period, this issue wouldn`t even arise, and Juventus fans wouldn`t be getting in these areas easily. And how can you prevent a Juventus fan who lives in Rome or Lazio from buying a ticket in Distinti Sud-Est or Tevere?”
“Should we keep sales exclusive to Lazio fans with fidelity cards? Then we`d have a Lazio-Juve match with only 38,000 spectators, and we`d effectively have to prevent open sales, which is not allowed by regulations. Why weren`t the seats designated for Lazio fans sold out during the exclusive period? We need to decide whether we want a half-empty stadium or a full one. If we only did sales with fidelity cards from now on, we`d have 5,000 fewer fans per match, even against teams like Lecce.”
“High prices for the Juve game? With a season ticket in the popular sections, a fan would have paid 14 euros per game. Do you know what a young fan (`aquilotto`) pays for this match? 10 euros, even in the premium Monte Mario stand. I think for a match like this, on a Saturday at 6 PM, there are few excuses not to come to the stadium.”
“Again, there is plenty of availability in the Distinti Sud-Est and Maestrelli sections, and also in the Tevere Sud side, so there hasn`t been this `Juventus invasion.` It will likely be the usual 10,000 Juventus fans; there isn`t a huge rush from their side.”