Vladimir Putin (right) said that the government will financially support the venues for the next five years.GETTY IMAGES
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the country's 12 World Cup venues across 11 cities "should be mainly used" for football "and not transformed into concert halls or exhibition centers," according to Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber of REUTERS. The country's efforts are now "turning to ensure that the venues and infrastructure built for the month-long tournament do not fall into disuse." Putin said that the government would financially support World Cup venues for another five years "to ensure that they can operate independently" by '24. Putin said, "You mention exhibitions, concerts, tourism and a commercial space. That's alright, the stadium needs to be full. But ideally we need to strive for every stadium to have a team and every team to have a stadium. Otherwise it will not be a stadium. It will be a concert hall." In some of Russia's World Cup cities, "ensuring that World Cup stadiums remain full and financially-sustainable can prove to be a challenge." Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave "wedged between Lithuania and Poland," has a new, 35,000-seat stadium but its local football team plays in Russia's second tier (REUTERS, 7/20).
