Luna Park: Buenos Aires’ Historic Downtown Stadium

Luna Park, that art deco building downtown with the neon sign is Argentina’s answer to Madison Square Gardens and on any given Saturday night in Buenos Aires the 80-year old stadium still might be the place putting on the best show in town.

The Palacio de los Deportes, or ‘Sports Palace’, as it’s called is part of Buenos Aires’ history in the worlds of athletics, entertainment and beyond.

Luna_Park por jorge — photo: Jorge, Yanni fan

It’s here where Evita Duarte met Juan Perón, the world’s first ‘telephony’ transmission occurred and Diego Maradona had his 1989 wedding party.

It’s also the place where, in 1950 the Argentina team won – for the only time—the FIBA World Basketball Championship, beating out the United States.

‘The King of Tango,’ Carlos Gardel and the ‘Man’s Man of Tango,’ Julio Sosa were honored with funerals there as well as legendary heavyweight boxer, Ringo Bonavena, who is today buried in Recoleta cemetery.

Luna Park’s Sports and Concerts

monzon-briscoe — Carlos Monzón looks at the clock during a 1967 Luna Park fight against ‘Bad’ Bennie Briscoe

Boxing has played a major part in the building of the Luna Park legacy, as well as other indoor sports such as tennis, cycling, volleyball, fencing and wrestling.

The venue is also known for putting on blockbuster concert events ranging from classical operas and ballets to the latest stars from pop and rock.

Famous international names to have appeared there through the years include James Brown, Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti and even Pope John Paul II.

The stories of Argentine stars such as boxer Carlos Monzón, tango accordion player, Anibal Troilo, folk singer Mercedes Sosa and rock group Sui Géneris are all also inextricably intertwined with the Luna Park folklore.

Luna Park’s Early Years & Dark Past

The stadium’s history stretches back to 1912 when the name Luna Park first appeared in Buenos Aires.

Frederick Ingersoll, the American responsible for constructing over 40 Luna Parks around the world, designed the venue based on his original Coney Island concept.

During its first 20 years Luna Park was an amusement park and open-air venue located in the spot where the famous Obelisk now rises over 9 de Julio Avenue.

It hosted live theater, music events, and other novelties such as the first ever ‘radiotelephony’ transmission on September 14, 1923.

That broadcast allowed the boxing fans of Buenos Aires to listen to the famous bout between Jack Dempsey and Argentina’s Luis Angel Firpo, known as the ‘wild bull of the pampas,’ live from the New York Polo Grounds.

That historic fight was the first time that a Latin American fighter had a chance at the World Heavy Weight Title.

In 1932 the original Luna Park was demolished as the city began acquisition of property around 9 de Julio Avenue.

The Luna Park name was overtaken by Italian businessmen Ismael Pace and former amateur boxer, José Lectoure and relocated 10 blocks away to its current location, which takes up the square between Corrientes, Lavalle, Bouchard and Madero streets, in the heart of the downtown area and on the edge of the high-rent Puerto Madero neighborhood.

On inauguration day, March 5, 1932 Luna Park hosted an outdoor festival of boxing, setting the pugilistic tone of the new venue. Two years after its relocation, Lectoure and Pace had earned enough money to convert the stadium into the roofed complex it is today.

Nazi Rallies in Buenos Aires

In the late 1930’s, at the behest of the pre-Peronist military government, World War II Nazi rallies were held at Luna Park creating extraordinary scenarios within that looked more like Berlin than Buenos Aires.

A 1938 Nazi rally attended by an astounding 20,000 included the participation of important politicians including Roberto J. Noble, the founder of Argentina’s largest newspaper, Clarín.

Luna Park Today

After Pace and Lectoure both died in the 1950’s, management of Luna Park was passed down to Lectoure’s nephew, Juan Carlos.

Juan Carlos, or ‘Tito’ Lectoure was an inexperienced twenty-year-old real estate agent until that point, but it is his name that would become synonymous with Buenos Aires’ Luna Park for the next fifty-odd years, until his passing in 2002.

Tito, a boxing fan from childhood, continued to develop the stadium into the focal point of the sport in Argentina. He enhanced his own role from arena manager into that of big fight promoter, bringing in raw boxing talent from all over the country to train in the attached gymnasium, before eventually providing the fighters with the stage to make their names and reputations before the public.

Tito set about remodeling the stadium so that its standing-room capacity reached 23, 500 people in 1960, making it the largest covered stadium in South America of the era.

The crowds flocked in, feasting on spectacles of quality boxing that could only be matched in a few other hallowed locales around the world, most notably, New York’s Madison Square Garden, and Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

The reputations that were forged in those golden years of Argentine pugilism include such world-renowned champions as the aforementioned Oscar ‘Ringo’ Bonavena, Juan Roldán and Horacio Accavallo.

Even Muhammad Ali shuffled across the ring there.

‘Tito’ never forgot the showbiz roots of his venue either, and provided the general public with many a special night out, bringing in acts as diverse as the Bolshoi Ballet, Milan’s La Scala Orchestra, Ricky Martin, Oasis, the Moscow Circus, the Harlem Globetrotters and the obligatory ‘Holiday on Ice’.

Luna Park remains under the management of the Lectoure family, and the current owners have maintained the customs established by their forebears.

Boxing matches at Luna Park today, replete with rowdy crowds and some of the world’s most entertaining hecklers, continue the fight-night tradition which started back in 1923 with the broadcast of the Dempsey-Firpo fight.

Although Luna Park is not particularly celebrated for its acoustics, big international rock acts from the U.S. and Europe such as the Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins and Norah Jones still perform there when they tour Argentina.

Luna Park Event Info and Tickets

In 2007 Argentina’s Secretary of Culture declared Luna Park a Historic National Monument. The decree proclaimed that, “As the stage for sporting events, concerts and political gatherings for more than 80 years, Luna Park holds a central place in the imagination of Argentines.”

Tickets to events can be purchased by phone or online with additional service fees at Ticket Portal (linked below) or in person from the stadium’s ticket office. Check their website for upcoming events.

—by Dan Colasimone

Luna Park
Av. Madero 420
Downtown Buenos Aires
Show info: 5279-5279

Ticket office hours:

Mon—Fri: 10 am-7pm
Sat: 12pm-7pm
Sun: from 2 pm (only if there is an event)

Tickets online and via phone:
Ticket Portal
Tel: 5353-0606

Football Argentina: Getting a Hold of Tickets

The easiest way of getting a ticket to an Argentine football game is probably to purchase a ticket online from an agency.

Purchasing the tickets this way is a full tour that includes a bilingual guide and football expert and transport to and from the stadium.

The only downside with this method is that prices will be marked up from the cost at stadium counters. Considering exchange rates, even with such a mark up, this might just be the most convenient approach because getting tickets from the source can be an exercise in frustration.

Due to the popularity of their teams, prices to Boca Juniors and River Plate games are by far the most expensive. Suffice to say, because only ‘socios’ or ‘team members’ can purchase tickets, it is now impossible to buy Boca tickets the conventional way, and almost impossible for River tickets. Visitors will have to go through an agency unless you have a local friend that is a member and can get you tickets.

Most tourists visiting Argentina want to see the world famous Boca or River play a match, but there are many exciting Division I matches with equally rabid rivalries between the fans that are worth attending, as well as the Copa Libertadores, which has six local Argentine teams competing in the South American championship.

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Buying Tickets at the Stadium

— If you have more time than money, you can take a chance and go to the stadium before the match to buy a ticket (aside from Boca and River games, where that won’t work).

The problem here is that procedures vary depending on the importance of the match, or on other factors which often don’t make any sense at all. Sometimes tickets are available at the stadium ticket stalls a couple of weeks before the match in question, sometimes they only go on sale to the public the day before and big games featuring popular teams often do not offer tickets to the public.

Purchasing tickets at the stadium will work for most of the smaller teams, it’s just a matter of finding out when those tickets go on sale.

If it’s a big match, people will line up early in the morning to make sure they get a ticket. If you’re a hardcore enough fan to do this, make sure you get all the details beforehand — you don’t want to go on the wrong day, and stand in the wrong line!

Sometimes tickets to important games are sold in other venues as well, such as the Luna Park entertainment complex downtown.

For many matches, tickets should still be available right up until kickoff, but unless you have your finger on the pulse of Argentine football it can be hard to determine this beforehand. There are sometimes tickets for sale on Mercado Libre, Argentina’s version of Ebay and Viagogo, but, again, purchasers will need to know what a real ticket looks like and be around to accept the delivery, and we’ve heard a couple of cases of the tickets not being delivered.

Buying Soccer Tickets from a Scalper

— If it’s the day of a big game, and you don’t yet have a ticket, one other option is to try to pick one up from an ‘unauthorized’ (read: illegal) vendor outside the stadium in the hours leading up to the match. Do so at your own peril, though. It might just work, but you also might end up — as many have before — with a bunk ticket, just as can happen buying from individuals online .

Scalpers are found in the parks and streets outside the stadium shouting out ‘¡Boletos!’ (Tickets!). Ticket prices will be substantially marked up, probably more so if you are a foreigner, but that is to be expected going through an intermediary. Try to use your good judgment on the legitimacy of the tickets, which are increasingly plastic cards instead of paper tickets. Talk to several of the vendors to compare prices — if they see you talking to the competition, they will probably drop the price a little too.

The scalper will undoubtedly assure you until he’s blue in the face that the ticket is real, but be careful. If he won’t let you inspect the ticket before you buy, forget it. Very carefully check the details written on the ticket. Is it the right game? The right date? An adult ticket? If you’re buying more than one, make sure they’re all the same.

If you’re with a friend who has a legitimate ticket, you can use it to compare. You may do everything right and still find out the ticket is a fake when you get to the stadium entrance. If you’re desperate enough to see the match, and you think it’s worth the risk of throwing your money away, buying from a scalper (for non Boca games) is a final resort that may actually work.

*updated: 2019

⇒ Purchase a Tour to a Soccer Game Online

Football Argentina: Which Games to Attend?

Which Soccer Games to See in Buenos Aires

WA-football-bombenera-josé porras — photo: José Porras

If trying to sort out which soccer match to go see in Buenos Aires, it obviously depends on scheduling, the length of your stay and the availability of tickets. Any game featuring Argentina’s top soccer teams is an exciting event but some matches are more coveted than others, particularly games between historic rivals.

Assuming you had all options available to you, and you’re a neutral supporter, the games could be prioritized in the following order:

Boca-River

The ‘Superclasico’ of Argentine football, and a unique experience that is worth blowing your budget on. An event you’ll never forget even if you’re not a football fan, and if you are, it’s something akin to Nirvana. It’s preferable to see it at the home stadium, the Bombonera in La Boca, but unfortunately it is extremely difficult for visitors to get tickets, and prices reach up to around US$500 per person.

Argentina-Brazil

You may not find the same level of fanatical fans as at a club game, but when two of South American football’s oldest and fiercest national rivals go head to head with squads bursting to the brim with superstar talent, footballing history is made every time.

Any Boca Juniors Game at Boca’s Bombonera Stadium

Although Boca Juniors and River Plate rival each other for the highest number of supporters in Argentina, Boca’s Bombonera, or ‘chocolate box’ home stadium is unique in world football.

It is comparatively small to other stadiums, with steep stands full of rabid supporters in one of the most colorful neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, the atmosphere at big matches is pure shock and awe. For the last few years, Boca has not sold tickets publicly — only those who are ‘socios,’ or Boca Jr. team members can get tickets, so these days it takes a near miracle for visitors to see games in the Bombonera.

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Any game at River Plate’s Home Stadium, Monumental

River Plate fans are just as fanatical as their Boca rivals.

Although their stadium is slightly less intimate, it’s the biggest in the country and more than worth a visit. River Plate’s stadium has a newly renovated midfield premium box seat section with only 109 seats. Like Boca Juniors, River Plate also has a ‘members only’ policy for ticket sales which gives preferential treatment to ‘club members,’ so they can be difficult to for visitors to acquire.

Other Top Tier Matches Between Rival Teams

If none of the above games are available to you during your stay, there are plenty of alternatives that are sure to leave you satisfied.

Argentine football is full of historical grudge matches. The colorful local rivalries between other big five teams include:

• Racing vs Independiente
• Newell’s Old Boys vs Rosario Central
• San Lorenzo vs Huracán

To see a complete list of rival teams see our post on Argentina’s classic football teams.

Any match played by the national team is a momentous event as well.

Finally, don’t disregard a trip to any of the match ups during a regular weekend of fixtures of any Argentine Super League team, or intra-continental affairs against clubs from elsewhere in South America.

—by Dan Colasimone

Purchase Tickets to a game:

• Boca and River games with pick up and drop-off

• Other teams’ games, accompanied by guides on public transportation

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