Rio Olympics Considering Adding Football Venues Due To Concerns Over Field Durability

The Rio de Janeiro Olympics may feature two more football venues "because of concern over the ability of fields to cope with multiple games," according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. Olympic football competition is "slated to take place in Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador and Brasilia." Brazilian Olympic Committee Chair Carlos Nuzman said that FIFA is concerned that the four fields will not "be able to withstand early round games." Nuzman: "Can we have one more city? Yes. We can have one, two or more cities. This is under discussion with FIFA and the Brazil soccer federation." Adding World Cup stadiums "could be a boost to cities such as Amazon capital Manaus and wetlands destination Cuiaba, which spent millions of dollars on new arenas for last year's World Cup even though local teams attract a fraction of the seating capacities of the stadiums." Several cities have "expressed an interest in participating in the first Olympics to be staged in South America." A decision is "likely next month" (BLOOMBERG, 1/8).