One hundred days have passed since France won its first World Cup since '98 in Russia, and since then Russian Premier League attendance is "up somewhat," according to Andrew Roth of the London GUARDIAN. Zenit St. Petersburg and Russian int'l Artem Dzyuba has "become Russia’s unlikeliest cultural phenomenon and the football press is laser-focused on two prominent Russian footballers who went on a bender and assaulted a state television anchor’s driver and a government employee." It may be "too early to say what Russia’s World Cup legacy will be," but the sport is "definitely now front and centre." Football journalist Sasha Goryunov said, “When it comes to World Cup fever, it has worked on the one hand. But then you get stories like (FC Krasnodar MF Pavel) Mamaev and (Zenit Saint Petersburg F Aleksandr) Kokorin smashing up Moscow and people are back to hating footballers again, saying they’re all idiots." When it comes to the World Cup arenas, there "have been some early success stories." Stadiums in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov are "posting strong figures for the Russian Premier League season, and overall attendance for the league is up." CSKA Moscow "managed to turn out 80,000 fans for a spectacular upset of Real Madrid" at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium in the Champions League this month. But as World Cup "fever passes," other venues -- such as those in Sochi, Kazan, or the "seemingly cursed" Kaliningrad Stadium (which was beset with construction problems) -- "appear set to fulfil dire predictions of white elephants dotted throughout European Russia." With "limited interest in the football on offer," organizers are "looking for other ways to pack stadiums with high upkeep costs and no clear path to financial viability" in the next half-decade. Russia’s leadership had "long understood" the venues "wouldn’t pay off financially, despite a widely touted 'legacy' plan to ensure a smooth handover" from the federal budget to local regions. Goryunov said, “When it’s a state project in Russia, longevity and the project paying for itself isn’t the number one concern. The government is mainly happy with the World Cup going really, really well” (GUARDIAN, 10/22).
