Who would have thought?
That also includes the stadiums they built for the last World Cup.
The connected “insiders” probably made a boatload of money from the construction and vending contracts — which was the whole idea of being the host.
Things have gotten so bad, they can’t even afford to keep the pool the color of lime jello anymore.
The historic Maracana stadium, site of the opening and closing ceremony, has been vandalized as stadium operators, the Rio state government, and Olympic organizers have fought over $1 million in unpaid electricity bills. The electric utility reacted by cutting off all power to the city landmark.
There are few players for a new $20 million Olympic golf course, and little money for upkeep. Deodoro, the second-largest cluster of Olympic venues, is closed and searching for a management company.
The state of Rio de Janeiro is months late paying teachers, hospital workers, and pensions. The state also reports record-breaking crime in 2016 in almost all categories from homicides to robbery.
“During the Olympics, the city was really trying hard to keep things together,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a Brazilian who teaches international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a Brazilian university. “But the minute the Olympics were over, the whole thing disintegrated.
I would say that if a city (or country) didn’t already have a substantial number of the venues the Olympics required, it should not waste the time trying to bid for the event. If it already has a stadium, pools, ice rinks, ski slopes, etc., then sure, go ahead. But if you’re trying to build a world-class athletic environment from scratch, especially considering how varied the Olympic events are, you’re going to bankrupt yourself. And the fact that you don’t already have such facilities would indicate that there’s no demand for them among your own citizens, so when the Olympics are over, who’s going to use them?
Call me a cynic, but maybe it’s time to let the Olympic Games fade into history.
- The notion of amateur athletics that seem to have been the hallmark of the games as little as 40 years ago is long gone.
- Cities and countries fall all over themselves to host the games then end up going bankrupting for generations to pay off the debt.
- With the exception of one or two venues that can possibly serve other purposes, most of the buildings, stadia and other construction is abandoned and left to crumble or outright demolished shortly after the flame is extinguished.
I used to love watching the Olympics when I was younger, as we got to see events that had little or no impact in the U.S. sporting mind, except for the odd event on “ABC’s Wide World of Sports”. But no more.
Now, we are bombarded by NBC and all 57 of its affiliated cable networks showing everything at all hours. Which means luge and curling are on PMS-NBC at 5:00AM or 2:00PM on a Tuesday, while NBC shows the NHL all-stars from USA playing the NHL all-stars from Canada during prime time. Or LeBron James and his NBA all-stars winning 150-20 against some team from Lower Slobovia. And then, the games are shown only after 45 minutes of “human interest” stories about how one of the players gritted it out through an infected hangnail.
Always the same.
Indeed, right now they could hold the World Cup in the USA and the total operational costs would be likely under US$1 billion, given the fact many American football stadiums are easily converted to FIFA-certified soccer stadiums.