SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil spent billions renovating and building World Cup stadiums that were supposed to help modernize and improve local soccer. Almost a year after the tournament ended, the nation is still trying to figure out what to do with them.
Some of the 12 new state-of-the-art stadiums are just now being completed as originally planned. Others are already up for sale.
The Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo hosted the World Cup’s opening match last June, a 3-1 win over Croatia for the host nation. But the venue wasn’t fully finished at the time and only now it’s been completed, 10 months after the tournament.
Part of the glass covers that were supposed to be added to the stadium’s roofing structure were finally installed last month, along with a few other things that were still missing at the $450 million arena. Attendance has significantly increased at the stadium owned by popular team Corinthians, but the club can’t keep any of the revenue because the money is still being used to pay for its construction.
A year after it handed over the stadium to FIFA for the World Cup, Corinthians still hasn’t been able to reach a naming-rights deal for the arena.