Bullfighting’s long, slow death

Last month, I reported that the Fiesta was alive and well in Madrid (and, indeed, in Spain), but since then developments in the world of los toros have been depressing.

First of all, a judge in Mexico decided to uphold a proposal by a civil rights organisation, Justicia Justa, that bullfights should be banned in Mexico City’s Benito Juárez district, where the country’s principal bullring (and the world’s largest), Plaza México, is located on the grounds that the spectacle is “demeaning to bulls”. There are legal measures remaining to appeal against this decision, but they could take months, even a year to resolve and, in the meantime, Plaza México cannot hold bullfights. (Elsewhere in Mexico, the states of Sonora, Guerrero, Coahuila and Quintana Roo have prohibited corridas whilst Aguascalientes, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Zacatecas, Michoacán and Guanajuato have declared bullfighting as part of local protected heritage.)

Secondly, Colombia elected as its future president Gustavo Petro, who, as mayor of Bogotá in 2012, banned bullfighting within the city’s Santamaría bullring. Although this measure was later rejected by the country’s constitutional court and bullfighting resumed at Santamaría, it has ceased once again as local laws, passed in 2020, stipulate that bulls cannot be injured or killed in the ring and that 30% of event publicity should inform prospective spectators of “the suffering that the animals experience in corridas de toros”. It is assumed that, before long under Petro’s presidency, bullfights will be banned throughout Colombia. Indeed, following the collapse of temporary stands erected for a capea on June 26 in a square at Espinal (Tolima), killing four spectators and injuring over 300 other people, Petro urged Colombia’s local authorities “to not authorise any more spectacles involving the deaths of people or animals”.

So, within the space of a month, the prospect has emerged of Colombia ceasing to hold corridas entirely and Mexico’s mundillo being seriously affected by the end of bullfighting in the capital. Even in Spain, the anti-bullfight movement continues to have its successes. Gijón socialist town council, keen to see bullfighting brought to a halt, produced a report on El Bibio, the local bullring owned by the council and originally constructed in 1888, that contradicted structural assurances made by an expert in 2021 and declared the building no longer fit for public use. Although la Fundación del Toro de Lidia has hinted at legal action against the decision, to date no moves have been forthcoming and, this year, Gijón will be without its traditional August feria.

Gijón’s bullring (image from www.jacksonlive.es)

To add to the political worries, since San Isidro, other concerns have arisen as to whether the bullfight is economically fit to withstand the cost of living crisis which Spain - along with other countries in the West - is experiencing as a result of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Attendance at the June ferias of Granada and Alicante was disappointingly low. The financial crisis of 2008 resulted in significant drops in attendance figures and in bullfight numbers, and there are fears that a similar tsunami may be on its way unless bullfighting’s economic model changes radically.

Matadors’ earnings have not returned to the level enjoyed prior to the pandemic. The figuras’ response to this appears to be to demand multiple appearances in ferias. Such concentrated programming, however, can often act against the interests of the public. Toreros with multiple appearances can coast through some of them: single feria appearances give them one opportunity to make an impression. Such contracting also limits the number of toreros a feria attendee might see. It also means that spectators are being offered more of ‘more of the same’, as most of the current figuras have 17 or more years behind them since taking their alternativa. Seekers of variety, both in terms of toreros and ganaderías - as the figuras tend to base their appearances around half a dozen bull ranches - are short-changed.

The answer to maintaining, even increasing, the numbers of festejos in Spain during a time of economic crisis is to put on events with lower ticket prices (or even to distinguish in ticket prices between those events featuring figuras and those that do not). Lowering prices will require lower costs, although not necessarily lower profits as attendance figures can be increased if attendance becomes more affordable. At a time when ganaderías’ costs continue to rise (Ukraine’s war having an impact on both fuel and animal feed costs), it is toreros whose cloth will need to be cut, either through lowering individuals’ earnings or contracting cheaper diestros. Bringing in new names to feria carteles and attracting audiences to those corridas involves emitting a far greater degree of publicity than is currently the case - names alone, particular at a time of little coverage of los toros on mainstream media, will not suffice. As the empresario Alberto García has said recently (on the back of well-attended ferias at Burgos and Soria): “Times have changed, and nowadays the effort an empresario puts in is key to the success of a feria. You have to stir up the carteles, listen to the peñas, promote the message to all members of the community, and not sit back and believe that if you make nice posters the public will come.”

Unfortunately, the mundillo is so wrapped up in itself, and the interests of figuras, apoderados and empresas are so enmeshed, it is hard to see new approaches to putting on corridas emerging. On the assumption that the bullfight is suffering a long, slow death - both politically and economically - perhaps all we aficionados can do is enjoy it while we can.