Global Scope: The Rhetoric of Sustainability

It is the first time in history that the same country (Brazil) will host the two largest sporting events in the world back to back. After Brazil won the bid to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it was announced that all the host city’s stadiums will go through a process of renovations, and it was announced that sustainability would be a focus of the organizing committee. Sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of the responsible management of resource use.

The hot topic with hosting mega sporting events around the world, such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup, is the issue of legacy, which encompasses sustainability. In these cases legacy can be defined as what did the tournament/mega event leave to the local area. Especially with countries such as South Africa and Brazil hosting the World Cup, legacy rose up to the top of the list in terms of importance of hosting such events. The success of the event used to be determined by how smoothly it went by and how many historic athletic achievements actually took place. However, now it became more of a long term success or failure measurement. The reason this has changed has a lot to do with the fact that many developing cities and countries have won the bid to host these global events. Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics, while South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup and Brazil is soon to be hosting both the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. For the actual population of these cities such as Cape Town, Beijing, or Rio de Janeiro what really matters is the positive changes that these events will bring to their hometowns. A good example of the sustainable legacy issue envolving these cities is the fact that South Africa now has many state of the art stadiums throughout the country, but no one to make good use of them. These “white elephants” as they are called by the specialists turn out to be a waste of money and energy, making the legacy of such enjoyable events a negative one. It is interesting to see many countries and cities around the world competing to be the host of events like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup while studies have shown that to this date the only Olympic Games that in fact made a profit were the Los Angeles Summer games of 1984. Whenever a city wins a bid it is celebrated and considered a blessing, but many times it actually has been quite the opposite. Athens, Greece was the host city for the 2004 Summer Olympics and many economists throughout the world claim that Greece went bankrupt in large part because of the Olympic Games. Athens spent a lot of money to make it a fantastic and memorable event, but shortly after hosting the summer games, Greece began to experience some intense economic issues that led to the recession Europe is facing right now.

Brazil is facing a crucial time in its existence, facing the challenge of hosting mega events in back to back occasions, something that has never happened in history. Well aware of the difficulties and challenges that hosting such events bring, Brazil has been working on the legacy and sustainable side of the preparation. In regards to the FIFA World Cup, two of the main concerns involving “white elephant” stadiums are the cities of Manaus and Cuiabá. The city of Cuiabá is about to have a brand new stadium, the “Arena Pantanal,” which will have full capacity of 43 thousand people. After the FIFA World Cup ended (Cuiabá is only hosting 2 matches in the entire tournament) there is a strong concern as to when there will be events that would bring out such an amount of people. The solution found by the organizing committee for the city and its governing body was to make 18 thousand seats behind both goals that can be removed after the World Cup, reducing its capacity to 25 thousand people. It is the first time in FIFA World Cup history that such an idea is implemented, and Eder Moraes, the executive secretary of the Cuiabá organizing committee said “It’s a sustainable and intelligent step for our city, I hope the larger markets see us as an example” (Casado, 2011). The city of Manaus is the “capital of the Amazon,” since it is located in the heart of the Amazonas state and is comprised in large part of the Amazon forest. The new stadium that is being built there, the “Arena da Amazonia” is a very interesting case study. Since the city of Manaus lacks a lot of urban and business areas, the project at hand for this stadium is to make it a 44 thousand seater but with movable luxury suites that can be turned into indoors convention centers, meeting rooms, and can even hold small scale art exhibits. The total amount budgeted for this stadium is of R$ 533,3 million reais, and the coordinator of the Manaus committee, Miguel Capobiango stated that “If you count the number of times our city’s brand will be mentioned throughout the world, the return on investment is already profitable” (Casado, 2011).

The Olympic Games are a little different to approach, especially since it is hosted by only one city and not an entire country. Also, it encompasses many different sports and different venues, not only soccer and soccer stadiums. Since it requires a more complex planning, and some venues are tough to maintain after the games because of the lack of popularity that some sports have in different places. The International Olympic Committee, the IOC, created the ‘legacy-fund’ to help out with some of the costs.  “This ‘legacy-fund’ is an important feature because the required event facilities, for example luge tracks developed for Winter Olympic Games, are often not economically sustainable and need ongoing operating subsidies” (Preuss, 2007). The IOC has been more involved in this “modern” issue of legacy and sustainability than FIFA has, but there are still many flaws that must be changed. “In 2000, the IOC launched a project called the ‘Olympic Games Global Impact’ (OGGI). This project was initiated in order to improve the evaluation of the overall impacts of the Olympic Games on the host city, its environment and its citizens, as well as to propose a consistent methodology to capture the Games effects. It covers a period of 11 years, from the bidding stage to two years after the hosting of the Olympics. The focus is put on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Olympic Games measured by several indicators” (Preuss, 2007). However there is a big problem with this new venture the IOC is pursuing, two year after the event is not nearly enough time to measure the impacts. A proposed change should be to bump it up to at least 14 years total and 5 year after the event has left. Rio de Janeiro is spending a lot of money to host the Olympic Games and make it a memorable one, and the sustainability issue involving the venues seems to be in good shape. However, the IOC is not aiding very much with the “non-sport legacy” of the games, because more than half of what is being invested into the games is infrastructure of the city, public transportation, and airports.

In conclusion, legacy and sustainability are the two main words surrounding the preparations and bidding of a world class sporting mega event like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. Taking previous developing countries and cities in consideration such as Beijing, Cape Town, and Seoul, Brazil seems to be very well aware of the challenges surrounding such events. The two cities that are the main concern for the FIFA World Cup event in Brazil, Cuiabá and Manaus, seem to be in better shape than many cities in the past have been. In regard to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, The International Olympic Committee and the local committee seem to be working closely to try and avoid legacy and sustainability issues, using some of the previously implemented projects by the IOC. It is a very challenging and exciting time in Brazil, and if everything functions properly could be the country’s big break.