Foro Sol

Estadio GNP Seguros, formerly known as Foro Sol, is a multipurpose stadium built in 1993 inside the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in eastern Mexico City. It is located near the Mexico City International Airport and is operated by Grupo CIE.

The venue was originally built for staging large music concerts. Initially called the Autódromo, it could accommodate up to 50,000 people. From 2000 to 2014, it was used as a baseball stadium as well, hosting the Diablos Rojos del México and Tigres de México. The stadium is the second-largest concert venue in Mexico City; the largest, Estadio Azteca, has a capacity of 87,523.

History

In 1993, four temporary stadium seatings were placed in the banked curve of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez due to the lack of venues for large music concerts. The then-provisional field resulted as an agreement between Paul McCartney's manager, Barry Marshall, and Alejandro Soberón, the CEO of OCESA, after the concert usage of the Estadio Azteca was denied to the singer for a date on the New World Tour. Four years later, it was permanently built and renamed as Foro Sol, the name coming from a popular beer brand of the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma group that had purchased the naming rights of the venue.

Since 2015, the stadium hosts the Mexican Grand Prix and since 2016 the Mexico City ePrix, becoming part of the track and noted for its unique nature, increasing as well the circuit capacity by 25,000 spectators.

In 2019, the park hosted the Race of Champions and Stadium Super Trucks; the latter served as both a competing ROC category and standalone event to conclude its 2018 season.

It was announced in October 2023 that the stadium would close temporarily throughout most of 2024 for renovations. News surfaced in January 2024 that the venue would change its name from Foro Sol to Estadio GNP after the renovations, following a new deal between OCESA and GNP Seguros. The name change was announced officially on 18 June 2024.

Usages

Baseball

The stadium was inaugurated as a baseball park on 2 June 2000 with a match between the Tigres de México and the Diablos Rojos del México. Both teams had previously played in the Parque del Seguro Social, that was demolished in order to build a shopping mall. Tigres played the 2000 and 2001 seasons, winning the Mexican League championship back to back. The next year, Tigres moved to Puebla City and changed their name to Tigres de la Angelópolis and the Diablos Rojos remained as the park's only tenants. The venue was nicknamed Infierno Solar (Solar Hell) while the Diablos Rojos were the only tenants in it.

The ballpark hosted three Major League Baseball exhibition games: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Tampa Bay Rays in 2001, New York Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers in 2003, and Florida Marlins vs. Houston Astros in 2004. Foro Sol hosted as well the Pool B of the 2009 World Baseball Classic contested by Australia, Cuba, South Africa, and Mexico.

In 2014, due to the return of the Mexican Grand Prix to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Diablos Rojos played their last season at the stadium, since the venue needed renovations in order to host Formula 1. Diablos Rojos moved to the smaller Estadio Fray Nano.

Motorsport

The stadium has been a prominent part of the Formula One Mexican Grand Prix since the country returned to the race calendar in 2015, with the final sector of the circuit running through and around it. The podium is also contained within the stadium area, with the many fans joining in with the celebrations at the conclusion of each grand prix.

Formula E also races on the site in an alternate track configuration. Beginning in 2025, the stadium will also be used as part of a NASCAR race at the circuit.

Music

Notable concerts

Madonna was the first world-class act to perform at the venue for her first visit to Mexico with The Girlie Show on 10, 12 and 13 November 1993, when it was still called the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. British alternative rock band Coldplay performed at the stadium on 3, 4, 6, and 7 April 2022. These four shows made the band the first international group in history to perform four shows on a single tour, as well as the biggest attendance in the stadium's history for an English speaking act, with 259,591 spectators.

During his farewell tour, Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee performed five shows on 29 and 30 November, 2, 3, and 4 December 2022, with 322,028 attendees overall. He became the first act to achieve five consecutive nights and the biggest attendance gathered at the venue. Taylor Swift performed four consecutive shows on the 24, 25, 26 and 27 of August 2023 as part of The Eras Tour, making her the first female artist to ever schedule four shows in a single tour at the stadium.

Mexican group RBD became the act with the most shows performed at the venue, with a six total show run during their reunion tour on 30 November, 1, 2, 3, 16 and 17 December 2023. Shakira performed seven consecutive shows on 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28 and 30 March 2025 with Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour, making her the first act to ever schedule seven dates in a single tour at the venue. She then scheduled four more concerts on 26, 27, 29 and 30 August of the same year, totalling an eleven-show residency.

Music festivals

The stadium is the host of Vive Latino, an annual multi-day rock music festival. It is one of the most important rock en español music festivals in the world, featuring a great variety of Mexican, Latin and Spanish groups of many genres, including performances of bands like Café Tacuba, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Gustavo Cerati, Ozomatli, Sepultura, Ska-P, and non-Spanish speaking bands like The Wailers, Jane's Addiction, Deftones, The Chemical Brothers, and The Mars Volta. The festival has also hosted many Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide pro wrestling events as well.

The venue was the host of The World is a Vampire music festival on March 4, 2023 which was included performances by The Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol, Peter Hook and the Light, Turnstile, Chelsea Wolfe, Margaritas Podridas, Ekkstacy, El Shirota, Deafhaven, In the Valley Below, and Acid Waves. The festival also featured a supercard wrestling show featuring wrestlers from Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The show was taped and aired on YouTube.

List of concerts at Estadio GNP Seguros

Accolades

Gallery

File:F1 2017 -i---i- (37365978554).jpg, Formula 1 2017.
File:Foro sol beisbol.jpg, Baseball game between Diablos Rojos del México and Rieleros de Aguascalientes.
File:The Weeknd performing at Foro Sol.jpg, The Weeknd in concert in 2023.

Footnotes

References

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Baseball venues in Mexico
Sports venues in Mexico City
Sports venues completed in 1993
Music venues in Mexico
1993 establishments in Mexico
Music venues completed in 1993