The operator of Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã
stadium, which staged the 2014 FIFA World Cup final and will
host the Olympics opening ceremony next year, said that "it should pay
less rent after being prevented from building commercial
properties on the site," according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. Consorcio Maracanã, a group led by Brazil’s biggest
construction company, Odebrecht SA, had a loss of 48.3 million
reais ($17.9M) from March 14, 2013, through Dec. 31,
2013, the first nine months of a 35-year agreement "to manage the
arena with its owner, the state of Rio." Consorcio Maracanã said that "the terms of the deal are unfair
because provisions that allowed it to demolish properties close
to the site and replace them with car parking and shopping were
scrapped by the state government." The groups "signed an amended contract in January 2014 after
then-Rio Governor Sergio Cabral bowed to protests against
demolishing existing facilities for the World Cup." The government "reversed a decision that allowed Consorcio
Maracanã to tear down properties." The company said that "it would invest"
600M reais ($224M) on the project. Consorcio Maracanã said, "Because of political pressures, Cabral changed the design
and existing facilities were retained, resulting in lost revenue
sources." The state "is under pressure" to recoup the 1.05B
reais it spent to remodel the stadium for last year’s World Cup" (BLOOMBERG, 1/7).
