The Brazil Minister of Sports, Aldo Rebelo on Monday, June 10 held a media teleconference to brief the media on preparations for the Confederations and World Cup in Brazil.
Below is the text of the question and answers at the conference. The Nation Online Editor, Lekan Otufodunrin (@lotufodunrin) participated in the conference
Minister Rebelo: Good afternoon, all. I am very happy to be here to speak to my friends from the international press and I would like to say that we are about to open the Confederations Cup in Brazil and that we believe we’ll be holding this event with the success expected not only by the country, but also by the world. All the stadiums are ready and we are now only awaiting the opening match with Brazil versus Japan on June 15 here in Brasilia.
There’s a debate in Brazil about the cost of all the stadiums and how it’s leading to really high ticket prices not just for the Cup, but for events afterwards, the whole elitization of football, and I’d love to get the Minister’s thoughts on this debate and whether he thinks the people who really make up the bulk of the sports fan base in Brazil are being priced out of not just these games, but everything afterwards.
Regarding the costs of the World Cup in general and the cost of the stadiums, the cost of those stadiums has changed due to a varied number of reasons. We can now assess the case of the stadium of the Corinthians team. The estimated cost for the stadium was R$ 400 million because it was initially presented as a stadium to host only national or domestic football/soccer events. When it was repurposed to be used as a World Cup stadium, the price practically doubled to R$ 800 million, due to the demand the stadium has to fulfill in order to host the FIFA event. It required, for instance, 20,000 additional seats, more room for guests, more areas for the press, more security, particularly because it will receive heads of state and foreign delegations, and this is an example of how many times the costs changed due to the demand of a World Cup stadium that wasn’t foreseen before. In other cases, the costs varied because the stadium bid only the renovation of its internal part and not of its external part initially, and then subsequently did the bid for its external part, which then increased costs.
The price of the tickets for the World Cup is expensive and way beyond the means of many of our poorer citizens. Due to that, we asked that FIFA take that into account and take into account the popularity of football in Brazil, and as a result, they donated 50,000 tickets for indigenous and Amazon population and for beneficiaries of the Bolsa Famila grant. Of course, this may help solve the World Cup issue, but we do worry that the elitization of soccer in Brazil may happen due to the price of the tickets that will be charged after the events are over in the new arenas being built.
The general consensus seems to be that not only for the Confederations Cup, but also for the World Cup, that the football stadiums will indeed be ready, and that’s probably the most important part of the story, but also there’s been quite a bit of skepticism in relation to urban mobility and public transport. From the Sports Ministry, do you think it’s a bit of a lost opportunity to advance in this crucial area of public transport and urban mobility?
We have been monitoring transportation and urban mobility on a daily basis. Those two areas are part of what we call our responsibility matrix or responsibility framework, which is in fact a project that establishes the anticipation of previously foreseen works on several areas, in coordination with the federal government, the state government and the host cities. For the federal government, the state government and for the host cities, these works will be delivered in time, together with the next six stadiums, which are also set to be delivered in December 2013. From our part, there is no doubt that these works will be ready. Airport, security, telecommunications and urban mobility will be ready and compatible with the expectations held by the country and by the world of having a great celebration of football in Brazil in 2014.
On the issue of the stadiums, in South Africa, they’re currently debating the fact that many stadiums no longer have uses after the World Cup and have become “white elephants.” Is the Minister worried about this happening in Brazil, particularly in stadiums in areas such as Manaus and Brasilia that don’t have top-class sides?
The people who question the Brasilia Stadium, the Manaus Stadium, the Cuiabá Stadium, and the Natal Stadium usually do so without any idea of what those metropolises actually are. They don’t know these cities. They don’t know that those are actually relevant metropolises in their respective regions of the country, and that they’re also important tourist destinations, many towns with century-old sports teams, as well. The important thing to add is that these stadiums, which have been conceived as multi-purpose arenas, can hold major sporting and non-sporting events, football or otherwise, including fairs, congresses, concerts, etc., as well as exhibitions and others, and are already having their areas successfully marketed. Some of the stadiums have already sold their name right for very high amounts in their respective markets. So, there is no chance that these stadiums will become “white elephants.” They will be much more than football fields. They will be multi-purposes spaces that the cities have lacked before and now will have to use for several different purposes.
I have some rather practical questions, which is reported from my colleagues, as well, and I can confirm that, as well, that there are some problems. I know that it’s not part of your Ministry, but it’s problems of the organizations, with tickets, with the quality of transmission and parking spots, like really practical things, infrastructure for press. Are you somehow concerned, or to what extent are you concerned, that the press infrastructure will probably not be as perfect as it could be during the Confederations Cup?
The press infrastructure will be the best the world press can expect for an event of this size. We will have high-speed broadband internet access in all the host cities of the World Cup 2014, and we will also have 4G connectivity in all of the host cities of the World Cup 2014, and we may probably have the same issues that these forms of connectivity show in countries like the U.S., France and England. As an example, I was in New York for a United Nations conference last week and despite the fact that my phone signal has 4G access, it was very difficult to make calls or use data. The same happened in the London Olympics, as well. During the Olympic Games in London, it was very hard to get Internet access or even make calls between 11:00am and 3:00pm. Of course, we will work hard for these international problems not to repeat themselves in Brazil and to make sure that we have the best possible service for journalists, tourists and the local population, as well. This is the effort we are undertaking, and we are also making large investments in that area both from the government and together with the private sector. FIFA will have a media center in Brazil, the government will also have a media center in Rio, and we are getting ready to serve not only the 20,000 accredited journalists that have already registered for the World Cup, but also for the independent non-FIFA accredited journalists, as well, and we are doing our best to be ready to serve all of them the best way possible.
Given the focus on the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, isn’t there a danger that Olympic preparations will slip behind over the next year? The IOC has already given warnings about this delay. What assurances can you give the IOC about preparations for Rio 2016, and that this will not happen?
Brazil has offered all assurances required by the IOC and, in fact, has fulfilled all commitments undertaken with the International Olympics Committee. The infrastructure works for the Olympic Games all have their schedules well defined and, in fact, the works for the Olympic Games have the advantage of being fulfilled all within a single city, rather than spread throughout 12 host cities, as is the case for the World Cup. There is a Ministry of Sports team which is coordinating the Olympic Executive Group, which is an inter-Ministerial group coordinated by the Ministry of Sports and with participation of several other Ministries of the government, and we are also working in perfect synchrony with the city of Rio de Janeiro and the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and as well with the Rio 2016, which is the body created by the International Olympic Committee specifically to prepare the Rio Games.
The issue of security became a major issue again recently after a British journalist was attacked in Rio de Janeiro following the friendly between England and Brazil at Maracana stadium. What additional security checks is the LOC putting in place to guarantee the safety of life and property of foreigners, especially players and officials, football fans, tourists and journalists, attending the competition?
The Brazilian government is investing more than R$ 1.8 billion in security and defense measures for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. To guarantee the safety of fans, public security agencies such as the Federal Police, Federal Highway Police and state police, in addition to the Armed Forces, will be working conjointly. We are strengthening infrastructure at the points of entry into the country and have acquired state-of-the-art technology to centralize security operations and implement solutions for radio communication between state institutions and federal agencies.
Each host city will have Integrated Command Control Centers, which will be both stationary and mobile. The mobile Centers will entail trucks equipped with state-of-the-art computers, cameras, audio pick-up devices and software capable of integrating the databases of the Civil, Military and Federal Police, firefighters and emergency care services, and be able to activate them quickly. Twelve mobile Centers will be used during the Confederations Cup and 27 will be used for the World Cup.
Investments also include training, drills, inspections, aerospace defense and airspace control, use of helicopters, cyber defense, defense against terrorism and inspection of explosives, among other preventative activities.
We are particularly concerned with safety and security, not only for the public safety of our citizens, but also for the safety of the delegations, tourists and for heads of state particularly related to crimes of political nature. Special attention is given to this matter particularly in light of tragedies that have already been seen, such as the ones that led to the murder of athletes in Munich in 1972, of terrorist attempts that passed in the U.S., of attempts, such as the one that has been in the Boston Marathon, and others. Thus, we are strongly concerned with ensuring safety and security to all our athletes, tourists, heads of state and delegations. And the resources we are investing to make sure that security is assured include the purchase of equipment to train security forces all over the country, including the army, the navy, the air force, the federal police, the civil police and the military police in each state, as well as the Brazilian Intelligence Agency. We are also working in strong cooperation with our neighbors and have deployed command control centers in each host city. All of these initiatives have the aim to reduce the exposure to risk for both the local population and for guests and tourists during this event.
With the start of the Copa Confederaciones just a few days away, what mark out of 10 would you give to Brazil for its preparations so far; and if you could do anything differently, what would you do differently?
From zero to 10, I will give it a nine. We have been able to deliver all stadiums, but I do believe we could have delivered them sooner to allow for the realization of more test events, as we call them, which could have anticipated some of the problems that arose during those test events. Apart from that, I believe that all requirements were executed in accordance with expectations and that we will have a Confederations Cup that will be held as expected and will be the main event before the World Cup 2014.
Over the past three years, we saw close cooperation between FIFA and Brazil, and at the same time, unfortunately, we also saw misunderstandings and arguments between the different sides. For example, last year, the FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke, once said that “Brazil should be kicked in the arse to move forward,” and that, what he said obviously irritated you. So, now I would like to know, before the opening of FIFA Confederations Cup, how will you describe the relationship of today between FIFA and the several parts in Brazil, like the Brazilian government and the local organizing committees?
We consider that the cooperation between the responsible parties for the World Cup 2014 to be very good. The Brazilian government has a representative in the local organizing committee and FIFA has manifested and reiterated its satisfaction with that cooperation. The Brazilian government takes care to protect the national and public interests of Brazil in the World Cup, but at the same time respects FIFA’s assignment and the interest of its sponsors. We believe that the institutional relationship between the parties should be very good and that any difficulties have been resolved through dialogue.
I would like to ask a question about languages, because in Brazil, unlike the last two host countries, South Africa and Germany, not many people in Brazil speak fluent English and this could become a problem for tourists especially coming from countries who speak very little English themselves. What plans do you have to solve this problem?
There is a training program coordinated by the Ministry of Labor and Employment and the Ministry of Tourism specifically targeted at the people who work directly with the tourists in this event, including staff from hotels, bars, restaurants, taxi drivers and others. These are all being trained to serve foreign tourists, and I believe that the tourists who come will have the work force attending to them at least minimally trained to serve them well, and I don’t believe that this will be a problem for tourists in Brazil.
FIFA this week announced that less than three percent of the tickets for the Confederations Cup were sold to foreigners, people from other countries, and the majority of the people in the stadiums will be locals, between I think 60 and 80 percent. Is this disappointing for the government, did the government expect more tourists during the Confederations Cup, and can it really be a test for airports, hotels and other things during the Confederations Cup with such a little presence of foreign people?
There was no expectation for foreign supporter presence in the Confederations Cup. Despite being an important sports event, the Confederations Cup fails to have the appeal of a World Cup. We, in fact, had expectations of around two percent foreign participation for the Cup, which was what actually took place. We consider it to be, however, an important test event not only for the stadiums themselves, but also for transportation, urban mobility, safety and telecommunications. Of course, to the extent of what the Confederations Cup represents, it is test event for us, and as a test event, yes, we do consider it to be a successful one.
How confident are you that the six other stadiums for the World Cup will be completed by the FIFA deadline of December 31, and are you at all concerned with the preparations of the new stadium in Sao Paulo?
The stadiums that started being built, all 12 of them, almost simultaneously, of those 12, six have already been delivered, and this first delivery was actually the hardest deadline to meet. The other stadiums to be delivered are still subject to daily monitoring by the government and we have data that estimates how the construction work in each stadium has evolved month over month, and with that data we can forecast whether they will be ready or not by the deadline. And the evolution of the construction work of these stadiums since their inception, and the month-over-month data that we collected, indicate that, yes, they can and will be delivered in December. We have been in close contact with the responsible parties for these stadiums to make sure that those deadlines are fulfilled.
Regarding the Sao Paulo stadium, the stadium owned by the Corinthians team, that particular construction work ended in May with a 76 percent completion rate for the construction work. We had a meeting with the responsible party for the stadium and we were assured of its delivery in December.
You were recently quoted to have said that you do not think the Caxirola would be a security problem during the Confederations Cup and the World Cup – what is the Ministry’s official stance on the banning of this instrument?
The Ministry of Justice has issued a technical assessment through the Special Secretariat for Major Events (SESGE) related to various items, including the Caxirola. In the assessment, the Ministry of Justice notes that allowing the Caxirola in the stadiums could compromise the course of the match and jeopardize the safety of fans. However, it should be noted that it is up to FIFA to decide who and what is allowed into the stadiums.
The opinion of the Ministry of Justice is intended to serve only as guidance and requires approval by FIFA.
