Vinicius Konchinski Reporter Agência Brasil

Johannesburg, South África – The renovation and construction of ten stadiums for 64 World Soccer Cup games in South Africa cost the government around R$3.8 billion (16,5 billion rands). The stadiums were beautiful, modern venues for high-level international soccer games. There may be a few complaints about the referees and some of the results (Brazilians terribly downcast and upset about their team’s early exit), but no one could find fault with the stadiums.
However, according to soccer businessmen (and soccer is a very big business), those wonderful stadiums cost too much and have seating capacities way beyond any future necessity. And for those reasons, they may turn out to be financially unsustainable after the World Cup.
Barry Pollen, director of a South African company that manages stadiums (Stadium Management), points out that five of the six new stadiums (four were renovations) are located in cities that do not have soccer, or even rugby, teams. The care and future maintenance of the stadiums should be in the hands of sports clubs that will use them and be able to pay the costs, he says. Those costs are estimated, for the smaller World Cup stadiums, at around R$2.3 million (10 million rands) annually. The stadiums also need to be modified to house space for conventions, shows, expositions or even a hotel, says Pollen, adding that such facilities would mean more revenue.
Meanwhile, the president of the South African soccer league, Kjetil Siem, says there simply are no clubs in the country able to foot the costs of stadium upkeep – certainly not the big, modern World Cup stadiums. He points out that the average attendance at South African soccer league games is 11,000. Siem says that it looks like the South African government will have to pay the upkeep costs at least for some years. “Over time, with the modern, comfortable and safe stadiums, it may be that more fans will go to the games,” he adds hopefully. 

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English
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