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White Elephants and Wasted Millions: A Warning To the World Cup Hopefuls
Published: November 12, 2010
Magnificent football stadiums lying empty and unused. And that’s just one aspect of the expensive legacy left by hosting the greatest footballing show on earth.
The 2010 World Cup hasn’t left South Africans trumpeting about positive fall-out and that strange parping noise isn’t the mating call of the vuvuzela... it’s the nervous response of the economists as the European superpowers line up in Zurich on Dec. 2 for the right to host the 2018 World Cup.
Russia, Spain, Holland/Belgium, Portugal/Spain and England, be afraid, be very afraid. South Africa went into this with their eyes open, determined to make a success of hosting the World Cup. They did. But boy, they’ve paid for it.
What was it British Prime Minister David Cameron said the other day? "I’m spending much more time on the World Cup than on the G20.” Perhaps he should rethink. And bribe those notoriously corruptible 24 FIFA executive committee members to give the tournament to Russia.
Way back in 2004, when FIFA awarded South Africa host status for 2010, consultants Grant Thornton suggested the Rainbow Nation would have to spend $300m on stadiums and infrastructure, while they predicted a gross domestic product boost of $2.9bn.
What? Soccer City, the largest white elephant of them all, cost more than $300m alone as the great kalabash emerged amid the mine dumps southwest of Johannesburg.
In the end, despite record profits for FIFA, South Africa spent $4bn to build and rebuild their 10 stadia and upgrade the infrastructure for what was, ultimately, a peaceful but mediocre World Cup.
Positive South Africans point to the upsurge in tourism, national pride, the lack of predi...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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