José María Garzón (Seville, 52 years old) is the new businessman of the La Maestranza bullring for the next five years, replacing the Pagés company, currently directed by Ramón Valencia, whose family has managed the Sevillian bullring since 1932.
This has just been announced by the corporation that owns the plaza in a very brief two-line statement in which it reports the change of the managing company without further explanation.
This news is as big a surprise as it is unexpected. Just yesterday, the blog The bull, by the horns analyzed the situation in this newspaper and assumed that Ramón Valencia would continue to be a businessman in the Sevillian plaza. The Real Maestranza of Seville and the Pagés company, a broken couple condemned to live under the same roof The text was titled, but that was not the case. Apparently, the couple was more broken than expected and ended in a total separation.
The terms of the agreement signed with the new company are unknown at the moment, but do not forget that the one in force until today included that the company had to pay the Real Maestranza 21.88% of the total turnover of the bullfighting festivities and 50% of the profits from the other shows.
José María Garzón had already sounded like a serious contender for the Sevillian position, but he did not have, in principle, the necessary endorsement for it. Currently, he is the businessman of the first-class plazas of Córdoba and Málaga; Santander, Cáceres, Almería, Torrejón de Ardoz and Écija.