Cardenas Marketing Network’s (CMN) top boss has confirmed a major acquisition.
Henry Cárdenas, the company’s President and Executive Director, has reportedly returned to Colombia to “fulfill his professional dream” of owning and operating Arena Bogotá.
CMN aims to convert the arena into an “iconic venue that will showcase world-class events.”
The purchase is valued at roughly $35 million. This marks an important investment into Columbia’s booming live concert industry. The 24,000-seat arena will open in the second fiscal quarter of 2020.
According to an email sent to Digital Music News, the “mega-structure” will serve as a destination spot for tourists. Events will include live music performances, business conventions, and sporting events.
Arena Bogotá occupies a plot of land exceeding 1 million square feet. The venue itself, along with “another event space,” will consume 750,000 square feet. The roof will be 131 feet high. Overselling the venue, Cárdenas’ company said the arena has the capacity “to resist over 110 tons.”
“This unrivaled roof will certainly take acoustics and sound systems to new heights, allowing attendees to experience their favorite singers and music in a whole new way.”
Stating that he’s very proud to now serve as the “entertainment ambassador in my native country,” Cardenas explained,
“For the first year of operations we plan to perform between 130 and 140 shows, which means about three events per week, which will include family events, corporate, live music, sports (e.g. motocross, Olympic sports, indoor soccer, boxing, volleyball, tennis, basketball, etc.), eGaming, parades, and equine events, among others.”
In grandiloquent fashion, Cardenas added that no other venue in Latin America – nor even North America – will match Arena Bogotá.
“As a way to compare the relative size, we can look to the American Airlines Arena in Miami, which includes 17,000 seats, whereas Arena Bogotá will have 24,000. This great space gives us the flexibility to perform events/shows that we otherwise may not have been able to do. In short, the capacity of Arena Bogotá will be three times greater than any other arena that exists in Latin America.”
Concluding his statement, Cardenas said the venue’s capacity will remain “three times greater than any other arena” in the region.
Whether the businessman can actually pull off this feat remains to be seen.
After all, Arena Bogotá could become a disastrous, underwhelming venue that offered just too many promises. And this is an industry rife with stories of heavily-hyped ventures going bust.
For now, however, the optimistic take is that Arena Bogotá will become a live event fixture, both for Colombia itself and the broader South American region.
Featured image by Arena Bogotá.