K minus 22 days - Curious Case of Brazil's World Cup Stadiums

On the same day that the news broke out about the start of construction work on 2022 Qatar World Cup stadiums, it has also been reported that the stadium which is supposed to hold the inaugural match in the 2014 Brazil World Cup has not yet been finished. In fact, FIFA, which requires at least three test events on every venue months before the start of the mega event, had to demand another test game at the Sao Paulo venue. The next test event is scheduled on May 29th at the Corinthians Arena just two weeks before the Brazil-Croatia kickoff

FIFA has allowed much leeway in terms of stadium construction as far as Brazil World Cup is concerned. Eighteen cities were presented as potential hosts for the event in December 2008, twelve cities were confirmed as hosts in May 2009, against the wish of FIFA, who maintained that eight venues would be ideal for Brazil. But the insistence of Brazil government and assurance that it'll provide everything so as to complete the construction process in time and also the excitement of a Brazilian World Cup seemed to sway FIFA

Six stadiums missed FIFA's original December 31 deadline, two of them are still not ready. Public protests, which include issues like the amount spent on world cup construction, became common, but the estimates were inflated, from $1.2 billion to more than $4 billion and as much as a billion dollars were spent on some stadiums

While the estimated revenue in the next 10 years seems optimistic, neither the costs nor the revenue estimates appears realistic to common people who protest against the poor organization and empty promises. Public protests during the 2013 Confederations Cup were so unexpected that they jolted Brazil and the rest of the world who expected unconditional support from the football crazy nation

Construction accidents and violations were the major reasons for the delay in constructions, showcasing the casual approach of the organizers. Arena da Baixada in Curitiba almost faced a boot as a venue, now racing to finish before the scheduled first game on June 16. While all the stadiums were "officially" ready by April and test events were being conducted, there is still some work left, like the extra seating required to meet World Cup standards, roof works, to name a few and the delays are effecting FIFA ticket sales and planned infrastructure upgrades in the hosting cities like transportation are also put on hold in some cases

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who was regularly monitoring the process has commented that at least two stadiums are quite late, Sepp Blatter the president said that such delays were never heard of in previous editions. The stadiums were being handed over very late to FIFA which require on an average around 90 days to prepare them for matches, media and sponsors. In case of Curitiba and Sao Paulo, they have less than a month now

Last Sunday at Arena Corinthians inauguration cum test event, Sao Paulo witnessed an unfinished roof unable to cover the spectators from the heavy rain, mobile phones didn't receive signals and internet. But the biggest crisis Brazil is bound to face during the event would be another round of protests, especially in case Police infuriates the crowd or if the home team faces early exit from the tourney