ELITISM OF THE MINEIRÃO STADIUM? ANALYSIS FROM THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF THE FANS

Abstract

This study aims to identify the social origin of the resident football fans in Belo Horizonte and who attended the Mineirão Stadium during the State Championship of the year 2013. Reflecting on the changes which fans have been submitted in their leisure time is pressing for the establishment of a critical position to face the recent commoditization of events of Brazilian football. This is a qualitative descriptive exploratory study. The field research took place at Mineirão Stadium during games of the State Championship 2013. It was found that the Mineirão stadium after the remodelling, remains a space of diversity, despite of its managers priorization of a niche market people with power consumption. This leads to the exclusion of those who neither meet this requirement nor have the appropriate behaviors which the process of change brings. The data also help to question the use of elitism term, understanding it more as a marker of perception created by the withdrawal/reduction of a specific public in the stadium than by the presence of what is considered "the one most distinguished in a group".