The Great World Cup Gamble of 2010
In 2004 it was announced that South Africa would host the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. This was the first time that an African country would hold this prestigious international tournament, which occurs every four years. The African continent has always been looked at as being too unstable, and lacking of resources, to host a major international sporting event like the World Cup or the Olympic Games. But with the support of FIFA and an economy that has been on the rise since the end of Apartheid in 2004, South Africa has become the official, for lack of a better word, "guinea pig" to see how these events would work in Africa.
Six years later, on the eve of the tournament, this jury is still out. While stadiums have been built, cities have been "beautified" and commercial lights have been erected to help light stadiums and crowded promenades, there have been recent reports stating that, while the tournament will bring much needed eyes and tourists to the region, it might also be something amounting to an economic disaster. While organizers have said that their financial goal was more long term then short term, the tournament looks like it might not recoup most of the hundreds and millions of dollars spent on the event.
Most of the questions economic issues seem to surround the building of ultra-modern new stadiums in cities that may not have a big use for them after the World Cup. Of the ten official World Cup venues, five were build specifically for the tournament. Many of the new stadiums will only see three or four games, which begs the question of what many of these cash strapped cities will do with a 40,000 seat venue once the Cup is over? Sure, most stadiums will take up full time team residents, but can they attract enough spectators to keep profitable?
If you ask the organizers they will say that it's all part of a plan to make South Africa into an international sports and tourist destination. While this might be true, once just has to flash back a few years to see what can go wrong. The 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece saw the organizing committee spend hundreds of millions of dollars building new venues that admittedly wouldn't be used much after the games. Because of this, and the already existing issues with the Greek economy, the Olympics lost the city millions of dollars and gave them multiple arenas and stadiums that still remain unused.
It will be interesting to see what happens to South Africa after the tournament concludes. While it should give them a much needed commercial shot in the arm, we will also see if building new stadiums in a country that is cash strapped is a good idea.
About the Author
Author Kimberly Green wants to make sure that all the money spent on such things as commercial lights is recovered by the host country.
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