Fred Nantes was officially appointed CEO of the Maracanã in March and attributed the poor state of the stadium's grass to bad weather. However, the stadium administration had a comfortable recovery plan during the World Cup break for 60 days. The consortium that manages the Maracanã promised that 30 days without games would be enough for interventions that would generate grass improvement for six months.
Flamengo and Fluminense were the main stakeholders in the grass recovery. The stadium administration treated this year's recovery as something within the planning, with concern mainly focused on the 2027 calendar, due to the Women's World Cup.
Over the past six months, Fred Nantes became familiar with the operation and the grass along with Severiano Braga, who ended up being dismissed. Behind the scenes, Braga's departure was justified by the bad grass, but the real reason was a decision by Flamengo to place an executive with a profile more focused on business than operations to maximize stadium revenues.
The club managed to increase the revenue margin with the change in command, but the grass issue remained as a problem not resolved satisfactorily.
