The difference now is that an actual project was presented to the President of Corinthians, by Architecture Office Castro Mello (who also projected the National Stadium in Brasilia).

Credit of Images: Castro Mello Arquitetos.

The venue of the World Cup in Sao Paulo is still undefined. Morumbi was supposed to be the venue, but Sao Paulo FC is not willing to make the necessary investments.

This new Arena would be built in the neighbourhood of Itaquera, in the Eastern end of the city of Sao Paulo, where Corinthians owns a large area. The stadium would have connection to the Corinthians station of the Metro, which would  help solve many accessibility problems faced by other stadia.

The stadium would have capacity of 55,000 seats. By installing retractable modules, the capacity could be expanded to 65,000, which would permit the stadium to host the opening match of the Cup.

Estimated cost is R$ 400 million (the estimated cost for renovation of Morumbi was R$ 650 million). The projects (including licenses) would take eight months, and the works would take two years.

According to Copa 2014, Grupo Advento would find the necessary fundings. In return, the group would have a share of the revenues from the stadium for a period of ten years – and after that, Corinthians would still receive R$ 200 million in cash.

If Corinthians can really obtain fundings, the project has very good chances to be approved by CBF.

The Arena Capibaribe and the Complex City of the Cup (which will include, besides the stadium, hotels, business and residence towers and more) will be built in the city of Sao Lourenço da Mata, metropolitan area of Recife. Read more about World Cup in Recife and check out accommodation in Recife.

The video below shows where the complex will be built (the pipe in the background is an aqueduct), in an area  with vestigious of the Atlantic Forest.

The first idea was to built the  Arena in a space near the Convention Center, between Recife and Olinda; however, the cost of terrains was considered too high. The area in Sao Lourenço was chosen because the terrain is already property of the Government of Pernambuco.

The video below highlights the good location of Arena Capibaribe, near to Europe and North America and with good connections with the other host cities.

Environment agencies are being very careful to issue licenses. It is a well known fact today that the unplanned growth of Suape (an industrial and portuary Complex near Sao Lourenço) caused  ecological unbalances which in turned caused sharks to move to the beaches of Recife. In Recife, which once was one of the main surf spots in Brazil, today even sea bathing requires caution – surfers moved to Porto de Galinhas, South of Suape, unaffected by sharks.

The capacity of Arena Capibaribe will be 46,140 seats. There will be 6,000 parking slots.

The City of the Cup will comprehend the Arena, a shopping center, a technical school, a hospital, 9 thousand residences, and ample green area.

A new metro station is being built. There are plans to create rings all around the metropolitan Recife to improve road access to the Complex.

Estimated cost of the Arena alone is R$ 464 million (about US$ 260 million); the Arena should be ready in 2012, and could be one host of the Confederations Cup 2013. Total cost of the City of the Cup is estimated in R$ 1.6 billion (about US$ 900 million), and there is no set deadline.

The contractor is a consortium formed by Odebrecht, International Stadia Group and AEG Facilities. Besides collecting the proceedings of the businesses generated from the Arena, the consortium will receive R$ 4 million per year from the State Government.

However, it is still to be seen if the Arena will be profitful after 2013. The three important clubs of Recife (Nautico, Sport and Santa Cruz) have their own stadia, and may not be interest in playing at the Arena. There are rumors that Nautico is in talks to play matches in the Arena after 2013, but nothing is certain yet.

Updated: August 29th 2010. Below, the implosion of Fonte Nova. Notice that, by design, a part of the stadium (where the radio and TV boxes used to be) was left standing; the reason is that that area was too close to residential areas, and the implosion could be dangerous (it will be demolished mechanically).

The lower ring and part of the higher ring were already demolished mechanically; the implosion will accelerate the removal of the remaining higher ring.

The implosion will be conducted by American company CDI – Controlled Demolition Inc; engineers of the company estimate that the buildings will come down in 17 seconds. All residents living within 250 meters from the stadium will be evacuated.

The old Fonte Nova has been closed since 2007, after the structure collapsed killing eight people.

The new Fonte Nova will have capacity for 50,000 attendants, plus 5,000 VIPs and journalists. There will be also a Museum, a panoramic restaurant, 62 toillets, 46 sanitaries, and a parking space with 2,000 covered slots.

Read more news about the Fonte Nova, the World Cup in Salvador, and check out hotels in Salvador.

For the renovation of Fonte Nova, the Government opened a bidding process won by the Consortium Arena Salvador 2014, formed by giants OAS and Odebrechet (the Consortium was the sole bidder – both OAS and Odebrechet have headquarters in Salvador, and both have strong political connections).

Estimated cost of the renovation of Fonte Nova is R$ 591 million (about US$ 330 million). As usual, BNDES will finance R$ 400 million, and the Consortium will finance the balance. The Consortium will explore the stadium for 35 years, and during the first 15 years, the Government will pay R$ 107 million per year; some Public Prosecutors say that the deal looks too good for the Consortium, and started investigation.

Brazil will invest US$ 18.7 billion in infrastructure to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, according to Brazilian Minister of Sports Orlando Silva Jr. Speaking on a teleconference today, the Minister stated that these resources will fund 50 projects in 12 Brazilian host cities (the figure mentioned by the Minister today is the same announced a few months ago: R$ 33 bn in infrastructure alone).

Nearly 78 percent of funding will be allocated by the public sector, with the remainder coming from private sector sources (even though that figure is questionable, it is certain that most funding will come from public coffers).

While stating that “we have to work hard” over the coming four years, the Minister emphasized that “Brazil will be ready on time to host a great World Cup.”

“We will work in a timely and transparent manner to prepare Brazil for the World Cup and for the future,” said Minister Silva (according to FIFA, work is not in a timely manner). “We are focusing on sustainable development, which will not only result in Brazil successfully hosting the 2014 matches, but also improve the country for the Brazilian people.”

The projects discussed during the teleconference include investments of US$ 6.5 billion to improve urban mobility, including the development of monorail lines, subways, light rail transit systems, transit terminals and other modes of transportation. Some of these projects, the Minister noted, are already under construction.

Minister Silva also reaffirmed that all planned stadiums will be completed in time for the 2014 World Cup, noting that construction has already started for the stadiums in the cities of Manaus, Cuiaba, Natal, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia (only in Salvador is there some significant progress; Brasilia started today; in Natal, the process was suspended for suspicion of overpricing).

The other six stadiums are currently under the bidding process (everything is moving  very slow).

In the hotel sector, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development has assigned US$ 556.0 million to finance new ventures or remodel hotels with better terms than the market. The resources will be expanded according to demand from the private sector.

To address the aviation demands posed by the mega-event, US$ 3.1 billion has been assigned to enhance 13 national airports. The federal government forecasts a 10 percent increase in traffic through Brazilian airports during the World Cup (and they are already saturated). Investment in ports will be US$ 426 million.

Under the scope of the federal government, an executive group was created to supervise all of Brazil’s preparations as host of World Cup 2014. This group includes representatives of the Office of the Chief of Staff and the ministries of Sports, Planning, Finance and Tourism. In addition, the 12 host cities signed a Responsibility Matrix, which defines the responsibilities of each federative party for the organization of the 2014 games.

The federal government forecasts that the 2014 World Cup will generate an additional US$ 104 billion in economic activity for Brazil through investment, tourism, an increase in household consumption, and the recycling of resources.

In Brazil, there is a huge supply of uneducated workers, which makes it very difficult for ex-convicts (most of them with little or no formal education) to find a job; using the World Cup to give a chance to those people seems like a good initiative.

Fortunately, the idea seems to be coming true.

The Governor of Brasilia announced that he just authorized the works in the National Stadium (the contract had been signed last week), and that 5% of the 1,500 workers will be ex-convicts (see also this CBF note).

These workers are in open or semi-open regimes, which means that they still have to report periodically to the prisons. Salary was not informed; minimum wage in Brazil is R$ 510, a bit less than US$ 300 – and workers have transportation and food assistance, plus social security.

Brazil have several laws which are as advanced as their counterparts in developed countries.  The Brazilian Code of Defense of Consumers, for example, dates back to 1990, and has been proven effective to protect many consumers who know how to fight for their rights.

The Brazilian National Transit Code is another example of a modern law. If the nearly 300 articles were obeyed by drivers, Brazil would be one of the best countries in the World to drive. The law imposes duties to the Administration (unsafe cars should not be licensed), to drivers (even change lanes without blinking the lights is an infraction), pedestrians (jaywalking is an infraction in Brazil), the Police (alcohol limit is zero – the Police must fine or arrest drunk drivers), the Justice, etc. Nonetheless, per year, 42,000 people die in transit accidents in Brazil.

Today, Brazilian newspapers inform that President Lula approved a law to decrease violence and improve organization in the Sports events in Brazil.

This new law, Law 12.299, from July 27th 2010, is actually just an amendment to the Law 10.671, from May 15th 2003, which in the first article declares: “This Statute establishes norms for the protection and defense of Sports Fans“.  The law applies to all sports events, and not only football (events like the matches of the Brazilian Volleyball Teams or the Formula One GP should also observe this law).

Just like the Transit Code, the Sports Fans law is very detailed, but has been ignored by everyone.

Some articles of the law:

- all events should have an ombudsman, to whom all fans should have open access, and who should respond to all complaints by the fans;

- every fan must be insured, right from the moment he enters the venue; there must be one doctor, two nurses and one ambulance for every 10,000 fans (article 16); fact: there is not even room for more than two ambulances.

- it is a right of fans to be safe; a plan of action covering safety, transportation and contingencies must be implemented at every sports event (article 17); see here.

- venues with capacity higher than 20,000 must have camera surveillance (article 18);

- it is a right of fans that tickets must be put on sale no later than 72 hours before the starting of the match; a receipt of sale of tickets must be provided (article 20); see here.

- all tickets must be numbered, and there must be a seat matching the ticket number (article 22); in Brazil, this is impossible - see here;

- transportation system must be safe and organized; parking space must be available to all fans, and special means of transportation must be available to people with accessibility deficiencies (articles 26 and 27); fact: parking and accessibility is a major problem for most stadiums – the renovation of Morumbi would cost much less if Sao Paulo hadn’t to purchase lots to turn into parking space.

- food and sanitaries must be clean and hygienic (articles 28 and 29); ah, ah, ah.

- in case of violation of this law, the entities which organize the events will be penalized, and the President of the organizing entity shall be destituted (article 37); in the case of football, such entity is CBF;

- fans who promote riot, practice or incite violence, should be prohibited from attending sports event, for a period no shorter than three months (article 39).

So far, nobody cared about really enforcing this law.

If FIFA and CBF use their powers to oblige the Brazilian authorities to enforce the law, that would be an important legacy for Brazil post-2014.

This stadium was not listed as one of the venues of the World Cup 2014; however, since CBF declared that Morumbi is out of the Cup, there has been undefinition about the stadium which will stage matches in in Sao Paulo – and Arena Palestra is one of the candidates.

Arena Palestra Italia will be a renovation of the current stadium Palestra Italia (Palmeiras was founded by the Italian community in Sao Paulo, with the name Palestra Italia; during the World War II, when Brazil sent troops to fight against Italy, the team was forced to change name to Palmeiras).

The capacity will increase from 28,000 to 45,000 people; according to FIFA requirements, this stadium can stage matches up to the quarter-finals of the World Cup (but won’t host the opening match).

The stadium was designed by Portuguese architect Tomas Taveira, the same who redesigned the stadiums of Sporting, Leiria and Aveiro, to be used in the Eurocup 2004 in Portugal.

The President of Palmeiras say that Arena Palestra will be the most modern stadium in Brazil.

The estimated cost is R$ 300 million (about US$ 170 million); WTorre is to find funding for the project. According to the contract, Palmeiras will keep all the proceedings from matches staged in the Arena; WTorre will have, for 30 years, other revenues sources, such as shows, rentals, the restaurant, etc – of which they will still pass between 5 and 20% to Palmeiras.

The new Stadium should be ready by the end of 2012.

Ironically, the stadium which is not under scrutiny by FIFA and CBF and doesn’t depend on public money is the one which seems to be more prepared to host the World Cup 2014.

See more images and videos of Arena Palestra (registration required).

In 2002, when Rio de Janeiro was chosen as host of the Pan American Games 2007, the estimated budget to prepare the city was R$ 409 million; in June 2007,  right before the opening of the Games, the actual cost was estimated in R$ 3.7 billion (see report here – the report was based on data provided by the National Accounting Office).

That means that the actual costs were nearly ten times higher than previously estimated. Lack of organization caused delays, which in turned resulted in several contracts without a bidding process. There were several suspicions of corruption.

Much because of this, in December of 2007, shortly after learning that Brazil would host the WC 2014, the Minister of Sports declared that there would not be public money to build the stadiums.

The implict idea was: stadium owners would have to look for private partners who, in exchange for the rights of usage of the stadium after the Cup, would bring money in to build or renovate the venues.

The problem, however, is that there are not private parties interested in investing in stadiums. The most notable case is Morumbi, which will probably be excluded from the Cup, because Sao Paulo FC can’t find investors.

Who comes to the rescue? The Bank for Social and Economic Development (Banco de Desenvolvimento Economica e Social), BNDES.

BNDES is a bank owned by the Federal Government. But it is not like Banco do Brasil, another giant State bank. BNDES doesn’t have street agencies, nor does it offer common bank services (such as current accounts, mutual funds, etc) to individuals.

All BNDES does is lending money to selected corporations, at low interest rates. BNDES charges the Long Term Interest Rate (TJLP – Taxa de Juros de Longo Prazo), defined by the Federal Government; currently, the TJLP is 6% per annum – see official values of TJLP. The Treasury borrows from the market paying a (target) interested rate called Selic; the Selic is always higher than the TJLP; today, the Selic is 10.75% per annum –  see official values of Selic. And if someone needs a loan from a bank, the interest rates in Brazil are the highest in the World.

This means that every time that BNDES loans money to someone, the bank is giving a subsidy to the borrower.

And where BNDES gets money to give away?

First, some of it comes from the return of previous loans (as explained above, this return is lower than any other option in the market). Next, by force of law, a part of taxes paid in Brazil goes towards Funds managed by BNDES – and we are talking of billions of dollars here.  And last, when even more money is needed, the Treasury transfers money to BNDES – this year alone, the Government transfered nearly US$ 100 billion to BNDES.

No wonder that BNDES have got so much money to loan. There were R$ 3.6 billion for public stadiums and R$ 1 billion for hotels (new hotels and renovation of old ones); private stadiums can’t get loans, but the contractors can (they received tens of billions in 2009); investments in technology, of course, will have their share from BNDES.

The investments for the World Cup 2014 will be made with public money.

From the start, that number looked excessive for, among other reasons, the long distances between cities in Brazil (much longer than in South Africa) and the fact that eight host cities would be enough to accommodate eight Groups of Teams (as it happens in the first stage of the World Cup).

More recently, both the Financial Times and The Guardian observed that, by building twelve stadiums, Brazil would be left after the WC with several White Elephants, i.e., venues which would not be used to stage local matches (given the lack of attendants), and would be left to an expensive abandonment.

This blog agrees with such thesis. This post shows that there are only eight cities in Brazil which justify a large football stadium (namely: Rio, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza); and if FIFA and CBF wanted, these host cities could easily offer ten or eleven stadiums.

So, which host cities are doomed to have a White Elephant?

First: Brasilia. The most important team in the capital is Brasiliense, which is currently in Second Division of the Brazilian League. Mane Garrincha, the stadium of Brasilia, only sees some crowd when Flamengo comes to play (most people in Brasilia support teams from other States).

Even so, Brasilia is bound to build National Stadium, probably the most expensive stadium for 2014. It must be said that Brasilia, the Federal District, by force of the Constitution, receives heavy subventions from the Federal Government – and hence is the least concerned with public debts.

Recife is an interesting case. The city has three traditional teams (Nautico, Sport and Santa Cruz) and a large, passionate, football crowd. However, the venue of the Cup will be a new stadium, built 20 km away from the town. This stadium, City of Cup, will probably remain not very busy after the Cup.

Manaus has no football tradition at all. The most traditional team in the State of Amazonas is Sao Raimundo, which was champion of Serie D in 2009, and this year will struggle in Serie C.

If the idea was to put the Amazon under the spotlight, then Belem would be a wiser choice. Belem teams, Remo and Paysandu, are not strong, but their fans are very passionate; even with both teams playing Serie B or C, the Belem stadium, Mangueirao, often ranks amongst those with the highest attendances in the whole country. Besides, Belem, also an Amazonic city, is much closer to the other hosts than Manaus.

Cuiaba was chosen because the Government wanted to include a city of Pantanal in the mix. Pantanal, the Brazilian wetlands, is one of the richest ecosystems in the World. The Mato Grosso League is never mentioned in national media.

Last is Natal. Natal is one of the top tourism destinations in Brazil, and will probably be visited by hordes of tourists during the Cup: it is about halfway between Recife and Fortaleza.

But finished the Cup, the new stadium will be used by ABC (currently in Serie C, and who owns a particular stadium, the Frasqueirao) and mostly America (struggling in Serie B, strong candidate to be demoted to Serie C). Too few people, to justify even the most costly design of all stadiums of the Cup (let alone the expensive actual building).

So, if things go on as planned, Brazil will be left after the Cup with a couple of White Elephants.

Internacional hopes to get R$ 20 million (about US$ 16 million), which will be entirely directed to the renovation of Beira-Rio. Directors say that yet another R$ 20 million will be needed to put Beira-Rio in the conditions that FIFA demands for a stadium to stage important matches (Beira-Rio aspires to hosting the opening and the semi-final matches).

The tender of sale is here. Below, an image captured from the Internacional website.

Estadio dos Eucaliptos is part of the History of the World Cups.

The stadium was built in 1930. It staged two matches of the World Cup 1950: Mexico 1 x 4 Yugoslavia (11,000 attendants) and Mexico 1 x 2 Switzerland (3,500 attendants). Since Beira-Rio was opened, in 1969, the Eucaliptos has been inactive.