World Cup Brazil 2014

The Minister of Sports of Brazil presented yesterday the results of a study conducted by the Brazilian Governments about the impacts of the World Cup 2014 in the Brazilian Economy.

According to the study, from 2010 until 2019, the World Cup 2014 will aggregate R$ 183.2 billion to the Economy; at today’s rate of US$ 1 = R$ 1.75, or € 1 = R$ 2.33, that amount equals approximately US$ 105 billion or € 79 billion. According to IBGE, the official Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics, the Gross Domestic Product of Brazil in 2008 was about R$ 2.9 trillion, which means that the World Cup may bring an increase of about 6% to the Economy.

Still according to the study, the impact on the Economy will be more relevant in Brazil than it was in the Cups of France, Germany and South Africa.

Always according to the study, “direct investments will be of R$ 47.5 billion, to be invested in infrastructure, tourism and consumers expenditure; the balance, R$ 135.7 billion, will be of indirect investments, derived from the recirculation of money during the event.”

In infrastructure alone, total expenditure will be R$ 33 billion, 78% of which will come from the public sectors. An amount of R$ 5.7 billion will be invested in stadia, R$ 11.6 billion in urban mobility and R$ 5.5 billion in ports and airports. Other areas which will get a share of the investments: telecommunications, energy, health, tourism.

Tourism alone will aggregate R$ 9.4 billion to the Brazilian economy. During the World Cup, Brazil expects to receive 600,000 foreign tourists, and other 3.1 million Brazilians should also travel within the country.

The World Cup should create 710,000 jobs (330,000 permanent and 380,000 temporary jobs). Permanent payrolls will increase by R$ 6.8 billion, and temporary payrolls by 1.6 billion; this will cause an increase of more than R$ 5 billion in expenditures of the Brazilian families.

From 2010 to 2014, tax collection should increase by R$ 17 billion; according to the Government, this is 33 times bigger than the US$ 500 million in tax exemptions claimed by FIFA.

“The impact in the Gross National Product will be of R$ 135 billion, until 2019. This happens because investments, consumption and tourism continue, even after the World Cup.”

Last year, FIFA appointed the 12 Brazilian cities which should host matches of the World Cup 2014.

Last week, the Minister of Sports in Brazil, when talking about the delays in the works of the stadia, said that some cities could be excluded from the list of hosts; a few hours later, the Minister withdrew, and said that there are no plans of excluding any city.

FIFA demands a minimum of eight host cities. South Africa will have nine host cities and Germany had twelve. Does Brazil need to have twelve host cities? Can Brazil afford it?

The decision to approve the final host cities is up to FIFA; FIFA will certainly listen to CBF before taking a decision. FIFA and CBF see the World Cup as a business, which must return a profit.

It was by a request of the Brazilian Government that 12 cities were appointed as hosts (and there were still other candidates). The Government hopes to gain world exposition to as many cities as possible, during the World Cup. That would be good.

However, what’s the cost of such diversification?

The first stage of the Cup has eight groups, with four countries each; each group will have six matches. It’s only in this first stage that any host city may claim to host matches; past that, when come the rounds of 16, 8, quarter finals, semi finals and final, matches become more and more important, and FIFA will direct them to the bigger cities and stadia.

So, it is likely that smaller cities such as Manaus, Cuiabá and Natal, will end up building a stadium to host only three matches of the World Cup. These cities don’t have strong local teams to occupy the stadia once the Cup is finished. Past experiences have shown that a World Cup can drain host city’s coffers.

Besides, distances in Brazil are much longer than in South Africa or Europe. Transportation infrastructure in Brazil is poor. By lack of money or of competence, the works in all stadia are delayed. FIFA was concerned with the dealys in South Africa, and will try to avoid the same mistakes in Brazil.

It will be no surprise if FIFA decides to reduce the number of host cities in Brazil.

Today, April 21st 2010, Brasilia is celebrating its 50th anniversary; Brasilia was designed and built to be the Federal capital of Brazil.

Brasilia is one of the host cities of the World Cup 2014, and not an ordinary one. Given that the final match of the Cup will be in Maracanã, Brasilia is disputing with other major cities (like Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte) the privilege to host the opening match, or, at least, one of the semifinals.

And that was not very difficult to happen. The Government of Brasilia is planning to build the second largest stadium for 2014, the National Stadium, with a capacity of 71,000 people; meanwhile, Morumbi, the stadium in Sao Paulo, is having trouble to adapt to FIFA’s demands (last week, FIFA, instead of ruling out final matches in Morumbi,  euphemistically said that the stadium is ready to host Group Games of the Cup). Besides, there is a strong political interest to put Brasilia under the spotlights during the Cup.

What  can a traveler do in Brasilia?

Firstly, it is worth noticing that, thanks to the central position, the airport of Brasilia is one of the main hubs in Brazil; many flights connecting the South, North and Northeast of Brazil stop over in Brasilia. This means that will be rather easy to go to Brasilia and from there to any other host city.

Most Seats of Power in Brasilia are open to visitation. Within a mile walk around Three Powers Square, one can visit the Brazilian Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court; several Ministries (such as the Foreign Relations and the Justice) are also open. Oscar Niemeyer, the architect who designed most buildings in Brasilia, scattered monuments all over the city, most of which are in open air or open to visitation (the National Theater, the Cathedral, the National Museum, JK Memorial).

Brasilia was designed with quality of life in mind. Residences and services are laid out orderly, to make transit and daily life easier. Being the city with the highest average income in Brazil, Brasilia has certainly sereral shopping centers and a busy nightlife. There are several environment friendly areas (the Parque da Cidade and the Lago Paranoá are the most outstanding examples). Climbing the TV Tower is the best way to have an overview of Brasilia landscape.

Brasilia has a very strong spiritual side (not to be confused with religious side). Many believe that Brasilia is the realization of a prophecy by Italian priest Dom Bosco, who dreamt of a new Canaan in the Tropics; Dom Bosco followers have several sanctuaries in Brasilia. Good Will Legion, one the largest philantropic institutions in Brazil, has headquarters in Brasilia, with several worshiping places; the Good Will Temple was built under a pyramid which is said be mystic. Visiting Brasilia is a good way to recharge one’s spiritual forces.

And then there are places to see in the neighbourhood. Brasilia is entirely surrounded by the State of Goiás, which maintains traditions of the old country side cities. The old city of Goiás is a World Heritage Site. Pirenopolis is well known for the waterfalls, colonial architecture and traditional feasts with roots in Colonial times. And several cities around Brasilia offer trips to know the Cerrado, one of the Brazilian biomas.

Brasilia doesn’t have the beaches of the Northeast of Brazil, the grandness of Sao Paulo, the cultural diversity of the South; however, there are attractions to keep a visitor busy for several days.

A few months ago, IATA, the International Air Transportation Association, issued a warning informing that Brazilian airports are not ready for the World Cup.

Last week, Veja, the most influential Brazilian magazine, published on the Issue #2159, April 7th 2010, a detailed report (pages 68 through 77) about the infrastructure of the Brazilian airports, and concluded that: most airports are already working above nominal capacity; even with the planned investments (and assuming those investments will be actually realized), several airports will be still uncapable of handling the expected increase of traffic by 2014.

Access to previous issued of Veja is free (click here and search for the desired issue).

According to Veja, problems stem from mostly two reasons: the number of passengers in Brazil has been growing very rapidly, and the investments have been growing too slowly.

Brazil is experiencing an economic boom, and people from lower classes are now travelling by air, rather than by road. Besides, some new air companies were created recently, and competition is being prices downwards. These factors are increasing the number of passengers in the airports.

The graph below shows the impressive growth rate year-on-year of the number of passengers in all major Brazilian airports combined; from 2006 to the end of 2010, the total number of passengers should grow by more than 100%. During the same period, the nominal capacity of those airports didn’t increase anything.

According to Veja, the main consequences of this lack of investments are: long check-in queues; over crowding in the boarding rooms; long delays to claim baggages; shortage of fingers for aircrafts to dock and passengers to board and unboard.

The image below compares the airports of Guarulhos, in São Paulo (the busiest in Brazil) and the airport of Gatwick, in London.

São Paulo receives a bit more than 21 million passengers per year (nominal capacity is 15 million per year), whereas Gatwick receives a bit more than 34 million; in Guarulhos, there are 61 fingers, against 108 in London; São Paulo have 260 check-in counters, against 317 in London. São Paulo looks much more crowded.

All major Brazilian airports are ran by Infraero, an State owned company. Infraero’s site publishes statistics about passengers and cargo in all airports.

Infraero collects the boarding taxes paid by passengers (R$ 19.62 – about US$ 12 – for flights within the country, and US$ 36 for international flights); besides, Infraero collects several fees from aircrafts operators.

Infraero should employ that money to maintain airports running smoothly; but apparently they are not capable of doint that.

This other report talks about problems in Brazilian airports.

Castelão could well mean “big castle” in Portuguese; however, this arena of Fortaleza which will stage matches of the World Cup 2014 was named after Plácido Aderaldo Castelo, the Governor of Ceará who, in 1968, started building the stadium.

Castelão belongs to the Government of Ceará. The opening match, in 1973, between the teams of Ceará and Fortaleza, was attended by about 70,000 people. Today, the official capacity is 60,326 people.

Castelão is the largest stadium in the Northeast of Brazil; the other World Cup 2014 host cities in the Northeast are Natal, Recife and Salvador. This means that, if FIFA and CBF decide to bring an important match of the semifinals to the Northeast (which is a likely fact, since the Northeast is the area with the most beautiful beaches in Brazil), that match will be in Fortaleza.

Below, aerial photos of Castelão showing a match in 2005 (photos by O Povo) and the location of the stadium, in a suburban area, away from the beaches of Fortaleza.

Until 2014, the New Castelão  project should add to the stadium complex a shopping center and a hotel. A parking lot for 4,200 cars will be built underground. The roof of the stadium will be prolongued, and will cover all chairs.

Below, photos of the new Castelão presented to FIFA, designed by Vigglieca Architects.

The past two days, storms in Rio de Janeiro caused floods, landslidings, deaths, (toll is at 100 and counting) and chaos;  see reports and photos by the New York Times, Washington Post and the BBC.

The arena Maracazinho was seriously damaged. Maracanã, the stadium which should stage the final match of the World Cup 2014, was also flooded – an international match had to be postponed.

FIFA already learned about the news. FIFA’s concern is, obviously, how the World Cup could be affected by the rain.

The graph below, made by the Official Weather Institution in Brazil, shows the average precipitation levels (blue bars) and temperature (orange line) for the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The graph shows that the rainy season starts with the summer, in December, and lasts through April. However, the graph shows also that even in the drier months of June and July (when the World Cup 2014 should happen), there is still a considerable probability of raining.

But raining would not be a big problem, if the city were prepared to face it. Most of the  host cities have a bad draining/sewage system, combined with a bad rubish collection system; as a consequence, the rubish blocks the draining holes, and the water floods the cities.

Besides, several host cities are surrounded by hills and mountains, and many people live near the  top, coast and foot of them. This unordered occupation combined with heavy rains result, year after year, in landslidings and deaths.