Rio’s Olympic stadium is a ghost town

Maracanã Stadium, which held the opening and closing ceremonies and several of the Rio Olympics' biggest events, is reportedly abandoned and plagued by looters.

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[TheTuubster]

Fun fact: All stadiums of the 2006 tournament in Germany are in use for the Bundesliga.

[sergiobelini]

Maracanã Stadium never has been abandoned in fact, the stadium has fruit of a judicial fight by the teams and the Rio government but is used by two teams

[nicolasb.]

It was said before the Olympics that the Stadiums are going to be a waste of money and surprise surprise they are. That's no news

[itsharris]

Happens all the time. Rather than set one place for every Olympic Games, countries would rather waste billions to just build a 1 time use complex

[SuperCatman]

It was bought by a French company so it is in good hands.

[hwtvi]

It's very sad that these impressive stadiums go unused and are left to rot because nobody uses them.

[yidarmy]

The stadium is Brazil’s home football ground as well

[SpaceJamSports_Channel]

A lot of unruly people in Rio I don’t want to go back there anymore period

[JizzyF]

I’d be happier competing in the one city every year for the Olympics

[betaomega]

What did they think was going to happen?

[LordDavid]

They didn't have to totally redo the entire stadium bowl specifically for the 2014 World Cup and subsequently the 2016 Olympics. It was already in good shape for the 2007 Pan American Games, which it received minor upgrades. Just replace Maracana's seats, add new video boards and refurbish the concessions, luxury suites and toilets.

[felipeconstancio]

this stadium is not supposed to be abandoned. But they're having troubles between public and private stuffs. As a Brazilian I know that a soccer team is going to use this stadium in the first semester of 2017

[blveeju]

why cant they re use it for football clubs, matches over there? like national football match etc

[rogeriopenna]

The Stadium has not been "abandoned" nor it was built for the Olympics.

The stadium is the target of a HUGE LAWSUIT between the State Government and the Consortium that renovated it and has the rights to financially explore it.

Basically, reconstruction project for the FIFA WC was hurried up (as many other venues for the event), at a hefty price. The stadium and its surroundings were put on a tender private concession of management and commercial exploitation. Politics got in the way, and an area adjacent to the venue, supposed to become an expensive parking garage and a shopping mall was not given to the concessionaire as promised. As a result, cash flow predictions fell way short. Ticket prices were raised, but not as much as they need to in order to pay for the operation of a modern, UEFA-level stadium with amenities, a large stewarding staff to tame the hooligans (while they would be replaced by families and more well behaved people) etc.

Pie-in-the-sky projections of making the stadium a hub for non-football events and parties never materialized and the Brazilian economic crisis reduced spending in that area significantly.

So the concessionaire, facing lower football match-day and event revenue, and blocked from demolishing some old structures nearby to build a profitable garage (I think for 6000 cars) and a shopping mall, just kicked the can down the road.

Then came the Olympics. The Maracarnã was not suitable for opening and closing ceremonies. The IOC and the local committee banged heads until yet more money was spent on a renovation for Olympics, keeping the venue closed for what would be in principle 4 months.

Problem is that the Olympics and Paralympics ended, IOC left town, and the local organizing committee is bankrupt. It simply doesn't have any money left to, as promised, repair the Maracanã, including damage to the roof (too much weight was put there on the ceremonies, the roof was never meant to anchor tons of equipment), and give it back to the concessionaire. In turn, the concessionaire likes the delay because it can collect more money from the public authorities in an upcoming very expensive lawsuit.

[sentiasatransformasi]

At least take the most care for the stadium tho its now a landmark ffs

[walterlv]

This doesn't make any sense - Maracana has been in use for decades. So it is used regularly from 1950 to 2014 but after it hosts the World Cup and Summer Olympics it all of a sudden stops getting used? Someone needs to explain that to me.

[EmperrHrde]

Reason number one gazillion why every World Cup and every Olympics should be held in the United States.

[casey]

People are that low to steal stuff from it 😩😱

[SuperCacazinho]

wtf, but it's still in use... Is it a fake news ?

[lucassgamesandtech]

Sydney is building a 800 million dollar 40000 seat stadium and a billion dollar renovation of any stadium and a 30000 seat stadium is greeting biuld
For 400 million dollars !