Complete. The pediment of the Navarra Arena multipurpose space will fill its 3,000 seats for the Manomanista final on the 29th. With just over a week to go before the summit clash between Ezkurdia and Laso, yesterday there was only one ticket left to sell. In the front row of the low bounce. Fever for the pinnacle clash of the biggest tournament has broken out in the old kingdom. In his first appearance in Pamplona, the response from the fans has been spectacular. After the last Bizkaia finals, the operators have succeeded with the change of scenery.
Even the companies themselves were surprised by the pace as soon as they put the 2,500 tickets on sale – the other 500 are for their commitments – online. In just over two days, three quarters of the capacity was complete without knowing who was going to play the match. It went down somewhat from then on but knowing the name of the protagonists last weekend was the definitive arreón.
It is not easy to fill a venue of this capacity in a Manomanista final. Bizkaia is witness to this. The Biscayan capital’s pediment has hosted this game ten times in recent years and has only hung the no tickets sign on three. The first two, 2011 and 2012, with the traditional duel between Irujo and Olaizola II, and in 2018, which involved the intergenerational confrontation between the striker from Goizueta and Altuna III. In 2014 it was played at the Atano III in San Sebastián and it was full, but its capacity is 1,600 spectators.
The fact that the biggest game of the year is played for the first time at the Navarra Arena and that Manomanista has just played its last two finals behind closed doors due to the pandemic have had an influence when it comes to explaining the rush to acquire tickets by fans. The fact that eight have passed since the summit clash did not have two Navarrese protagonists has also had its weight.
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