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| Yes, pretty it is, but will it be ready by 2014? Source: Copa2014.org.br |
The never-ending story: The World Cup. There is a current blog entry on veja.com.br, coinciding with this weeks cover story. Veja did a fairly simple, if simplistic calculation: How much has been spent so far, how much time until the World Cup, so when will the stadiums get done?
The answer: All but one will be finished AFTER the World Cup.
| Stadium | Budget | Spent to date | Conclusion Run-Rate |
| Corinthians (SP) | R$ 1bn | Zero | Never |
| A. das Dunas (RN) | R$ 400m | Zero | Never |
| A. da Baixada (PR) | R$ 220m | Zero | Never |
| Maracanã (RJ) | R$ 957m | R$ 26m | 2038 |
| Arena Pernambuco | R$ 532m | R$ 60m | 2025 |
| Arena Amazônia | R$ 499,5m | R$ 30m | 2024 |
| Mineirão (MG) | R$ 666m | R$ 86,6m | 2020 |
| Nacional (DF) | R$ 670m | R$ 45m | 2021 |
| Arena (MT) | R$ 355m | R$ 48m | 2017 |
| Beira Rio (RS) | R$ 290m | R$ 30m | 2017 |
| Fonte Nova (GO) | R$ 591m | R$ 99,9m | 2015 |
| Castelão (CE) | R$ 519 milhões | R$ 80m | 2013 (October) |
Is this likely? Probably not. Is this possible? At least for a few of the stadiums, it is starting to seem that way. Why so? Well, apart from a Brazilian lack of sense of urgency (which can drive the German author of this blog mad at times), aparently, there have been some problems with planning. The Brasilia stadium, for example, was planned without grass, seats and illumination (so it will cost more). In the Maracana stadium, the construction company found that the concrete structure was rotten only after tearing out the seats (what a surprise, considering the stadium was completed for the 1950 World Cup on the run and probably not much has been invested since - also here, more will be spent... and it will take a wee longer).
The blog is worth a read, and the issue is worth buying, as it also contains a bunch or pretty pictures of what stadiums should not look like three years before the cup... The first part of the solution will probably be to throw so much money at the construction, to get them finished on time. This has worked in the past: The 2007 Pan American Games were suffering from the same problem, until the government decided to "invest" a bit more in the last six months prior to the games. The result: An overspend of R$3.6bn - instead of R$400m, the cost went up to R$4bn. The second part of the solution will be to reduce the amount of venues from twelve to... 8 or less. Bookmark this page. I am betting on the exit of Manaus, Natal and Curitiba - and Sampa will not host the opening game.
Now, the only question (apart from the many above) is: Where will the 2013 Confederations Cup be held? Oh, and let us not talk about airports this time...
P.S. There even is an official (?) site or the Itaquerão (São Paulo Stadium depicted above): http://www.itaquerao.com/ - But the bandwidth has been exceeded... so Error 509 for you...
