Arena Market: Argentina

It’s been said many times that the arrival of Grupo La Nación- owned, ASM Global-managed 15,000-capacity Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires was a vital piece of the puzzle for the South American touring circuit, and Covid or otherwise, the popularity of the arena in the years since its November 2019 debut only underscores the business case.

This year, the arena has been booked solid – take your pick from a local, regional, and international cocktail of Jonas Brothers, Ana Gabriel, Luciano Pereyra, Megadeth, Tom Jones, Laura Pausini, La K’onga, Maná, Slash, David Guetta, Babasónicos, Emilia Mernes, Tan Biónica, and others, plus a heavy dose of Disney On Ice’s Into The Magic! in July.

The arena is closing in on 190 shows in 2024, compared to 150 last year – a remarkable result, given the ‘shock therapy’ austerity measures of new president Javier Milei, which have slowed the country’s notorious inflation levels while sending wages and consumer spending tumbling.

All the same, there has been some reaction. Movistar Arena general manager Gabriel Dantur notes that international shows are thinning out a little and local shows increasing and that buying habits have changed.

“Last year, 90% of our shows were sold out on the first day or first two days,” he says. “And now, we’re back to a pattern where, typically, you sell 60% or 70% of the show in the first two days, and you have some kind of reaction on the two days before the show. But that being said, it’s incredible that we will be doing more shows this year than last.

“Last year, 90% of our shows were sold out on the first day or first two days”

“Some of those have been phenomena, such as the ten dates of local star Emilia Mernes, singer, model, and girlfriend of Argentinian trap star Duki. “She did ten shows in May, which were sold in November last year – ten arenas in ten hours,” says Dantur.

And if the Movistar might have been expected to put the antique Estadio Luna Park out to pasture, that hasn’t happened either – though the loss of Disney On Ice, a Luna Park staple for 15 years, has undoubtedly been felt.

Otherwise, the 92-year-old, 8,400-capacity arena in the downtown San Nicolás neighbourhood remains formidably busy. Placebo, Interpol, and 5 Seconds of Summer have been among the Anglo minority over the past year or so, with Abel Pintos, Airbag, Khea, and Don Osvaldo among the multi-night Argentine stars.

But the indications are that times are changing at the legendary venue, which since 2013 has been owned by two branches of the catholic church. Local newspaper reports last year alleged ructions among the shareholders and claimed that Ernst & Young had been appointed to invite development proposals, though a winner has not yet been announced.

“Costs have gone up and the prices of the tickets haven’t because we don’t want to impose really expensive tickets on people that won’t allow them to attend shows.”

In the second city of Córdoba, Grupo Q last year put a roof on its Quality Arena to create an 8,000-standing, 4,200-seated, indoor venue. Combined with its 1,500/3,500-cap Quality Espacio venue and 300/400-cap Quality Teatro, the complex represents the largest and most versatile events centre outside the capital.

While acknowledging that consumer spending is being squeezed everywhere in Argentina, Ignacio Taier, COO of Grupo Q, suggests that as the beneficiary of the largest share of previous governments’ subsidies, Buenos Aires has suffered the most from their removal.

“We are selling the same number of tickets that we sold last year, which is a good thing,” says Taier. “Of course, costs have gone up and the prices of the tickets haven’t because we don’t want to impose really expensive tickets on people that won’t allow them to attend shows. But, of course, inflation is still going hard. And people are still trying to spend their money as quickly as they get it in order to take the best profit out of it.”

The phenomenon can easily be seen in Argentina’s stadium business, where Taylor Swift (three nights in November) and local trap star Duki (two nights in December) demonstrated once again that economic tremors are no barrier to a big crowd at Buenos Aires’ legendary Estadio River Plate.