Leaving A Legacy Of Debt

You often hear politicians say that hosting the World Cup Football event will leave a legacy for years to come. It all depends on what type of legacy they are on about as it looks like a certain few benefit and the rest are held carrying the bill for years to come.

If we take Brazil as an example and have a look at what and how the stadiums are being used now and the financial implications it will tell a different story. In 2014 Brazil spent more than $300 Billion on the Football stadiums and like every so called Sports Minister he pronounced they were leaving a legacy.

Brazil hosted the matches and spread them out around the country so everyone would get a flavor of the tournament even though some areas don't have professional football teams. This surely would raise red flags for later as when the tournament was over who was going to be filling the seats and watching what type of sport.

There was definitely no thought process involved with this and countries need to think long and hard before submitting a bid. The world has changed and debt cannot just be written off as there is too much debt already. Question marks are and always will be raised with how FIFA operate as greasing of palms to make their money has been a away of life. Like most politicians as it is like a government body on its own it will turn a blind eye until someone is caught. It seems it is okay to be corrupt but don't get caught as it then threatens all of the others incomes at the same time.

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Above is the spectacular Arena Amazonia which cost in excess of $300 Million to build. This stadium is in the city of Manaus and doesn't have a professional football team. The place is miles from nowhere and the local football teams don't use it as they have to hire the venue out. The stadium doesn't even attract concerts as Kiss gave them a miss on their tour of Brazil. This one will be interesting to revisit in about 10 years to see if it looks more like an overgrown ruin. The people of Manaus will be footing the bill for the maintenance of this white elephant though as this is how it works.

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The most expensive stadium at a cost of over $500 Million the National Stadium or locally known as The Estadio Nacional in Brasilia. The capital doesn't have a top flight team so it is unused and is a parking lot for buses instead. The stadium hosted 7 World Cup games and is now another white elephant.

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Finally a stadium that has a professional team in town Atlético Mineiro, but yet it is still not used by them. The team says they can't afford to play there as they make no money from the games due to the costs charged by the stadium owners. Instead they are going forward with anew stadium which they will own themselves. they currently use the old Bella Horizonte stadium for their matches.

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As you can see this is not painting a pretty picture and it doesn't get any better either.The 42,000-seat Arena Pantanal in Cuiabá is now not used by the local teams either who only draw a few 1000 fans a game maximum and the locker rooms have been taken over by homeless people today.The photograph below make sit look impressive but it is another white elephant that cost over $200 Million to build. The residents of this city will be paying for years to maintain this and are better off tearing it down as soon as possible.

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When I say it gets worse I am not kidding. The last two are trying to make ends meet by using the stadiums to host weddings and kids birthday parties with little success. The problem seems to stem from the owners of the stadiums asking too much money to rent the stadiums out and are now left carrying the bill.

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Arena das Dunas in Natal.

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The Arena Pernambuco

The whole problem of hosting a World Cup is not hosting the event as such but making the event work for you as a country. These are great venues that they built and are now left abandoned. Surely someone with a brain could see what was coming. Maybe there is so much corruption going on they didn't care as it would fill their pockets and then they could leave it someone else to worry about. Today the people of Brazil have been lumbered with a bill that will take a generation to pay off for literally 8 weeks of madness.