Fisht Stadium hosted some memorable matches and will soon be home to a second-division club.getty images
Sochi’s Fisht stadium "has been witness to some of the best games of this year’s World Cup," according to Max Seddon of the FINANCIAL TIMES. But to ensure any football "is played there at all after the tournament ends," local authorities "had to persuade a friend of President Vladimir Putin to move a team to Sochi." How to prevent "state-of-the-art stadiums" from becoming "white elephants" after a big tournament "has been a headache for many host nations." But the predicament "is particularly acute in Russia, where vast distances between host cities," a lack of a "strong football tradition" outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg and "tight regional finances mean local governments are seeking creative ways to keep the stadiums in use." Sochi, which built the stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympics "and then converted it to a football ground, has perhaps gone the furthest." The Black Sea resort city "has been unable to support a top-flight football team." To ensure the pitch remains occupied, local authorities enlisted Boris Rotenberg, a childhood friend of Putin’s, as an investor. Rotenberg bought Dinamo St. Petersburg, a second-division side, and moved it to Sochi, "where it will play as FK Sochi when the new season starts this month." In Samara, where local side Krylia Sovietov is "traditionally Russia’s most popular," the local government wants to turn the out-of-the-way stadium into a "sports cluster." Training pitches and adjoining facilities will be used to house a sports medicine center and "create homes for sports ranging from competitive dancing to beach volleyball." Other cities "without Sochi’s prestige and patronage are seeking more creative solutions to keep their stadiums occupied." Four of them do not have top-flight teams and "lack the budgets to fund a push" for Russia’s top flight without outside sponsors. Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin said that he is "negotiating with foreign investors about developing the stadium," home to a second-division team that the city "recently created from scratch." Most cities "will still likely rely on subsidies or debt markets" (FT, 7/14). The AFP reported regional authorities said that "running all the new and rebuilt facilities" will cost up to $100M a year. The federal government "intends to allocate" around $200M to "help teams and local officials cover the costs." But that money "will be paid out over five years and also be used for youth football development and other expenses." Few provincial bosses "think it will be enough -- and not many analysts see a quick fix" (AFP, 7/15).
