That small sector to the left of the main stands (above and to the right of the big banner), why is it not occupied? I see on your photos the same empty space on the right side of the main stands.
they are the provisory stands that increase stadium capacity to 65k demanded to open to Cup. however, they were still not finished in this game. Next wednesday, there will be a new test match at this stadium, between Corinthians and Cruzeiro, with capacity of 55k (this match it was 40k) and occupying those areas.
UPDATES Arena Corinthians: World Cup banners being installed in the walls Valcke's visit to Arena da Baixada
This is exciting; things do seem to be getting ready. Let's hope the airports and urban traffic hold, and protests do not disrupt the games themselves or fan access to the games.
The stadiums are looking quite finished, now. I'm getting optimistic that it will be a good tournament and Brazil won't be embarrassed. Of course the international press continues to be sensationalistic. Today I saw on AP an article saying "the test scheduled for the Itaquerao stadium has been postponed, bringing up fresh concerns about Brazil's ability to stage the opening game there." It turns out that the only change was that FIFA wanted the test match to happen on a Sunday rather than in the middle of the week, not to upset the usual flow of the city and to better match the WC conditions since the opening day will be declared a holiday; also, FIFA said since they wanted lots of attendance to more closely match the conditions for the opener, they thought there would be more public during the weekend. All very reasonable points that have nothing to do with Brazil's ability to stage the opener, but of course, the media wants to pretend like the sky is falling since this sells more newspapers and gets more web hits than saying "things are getting ready and seem fine." Of course stadiums are not all, but airports also seem to be getting into shape and hotel capacity is holding, so, all the alarm may very well prove to be much ado about nothing.
well, the international media is right. Brazilians are following this reasoning: in the OPENING MATCH DAY, everything will be ready and working. But the stadiums and the areas around them were not supposed to be ready on the start of the World Cup. The set date was DECEMBER 2013!!! Therefore, Brazil is already SIX months late.
Yes, but will it matter? If it's all ready by June 12, tourists flow smoothly through the airports and hotels, and everything goes rather well, what's the point of sulking because we were not ready by December 2013?
the bad press is there... and it brings doubts about brazilians capacity to deliver on time. That has effects on business.
Have to say ALL the stadia are amazing, even the Pantanal arena, which is like an English style stadium but has a fantastic design on the exterior. They're a zillion times better than South Africa 2010 (Rustenburg was a disgraceful venue by WC standards) and probably even better than Germany 2006. Cannot wait to grace these arenas!
I agree, and that somewhat explains why so much money was spent on stadiums and why there were a few delays. I don´t think any other World Cup saw SUCH A BIG level of renovating AND new stadiums built for it, like Brazil. The renovated stadiums (Maracanã, Mineirão, Beira Rio, Arena da Baixada and Castelão suffered absolutely HUGE changes) and then we had several NEW stadiums: Fonte Nova (not renovated... the old one was imploded and a new one was built) Estádio Nacional (not renovated... the old one was imploded and a new one was built) Arena Corinthians Arena Cuiabá Arena das Dunas Arena Amazônia Arena Pernambuco 7 big brand new stadiums and 5 renovations in a level that was hardly seen in other World Cups (Maracanã, Mineirão and Beira Rio had their ENTIRE lower section demolished and rebuilt. The roof were also completely remade. Arena da Baixada was almost entirely destroyed to be rebuilt.
AcesHigh, how many of these stadiums are likely to be utilised after the cup? What's the plan for those where there is no football team in Serie A? Will they schedule more Brazil friendlies/world cup qualifiers in places like Manaus/Cuiaba? Will they have more concerts/events in these cities? It is great to have modern stadia but if nobody is using them after the world cup they're expensive to maintain. Are they going to be white elephants?
I don't think the one in Brasilia will be a white elephant, since Brasilia is a city of relocated people and it has many fans who support the main Rio and São Paulo teams, so regularly Brasileirão games are scheduled there, to full capacity. However the ones in Manaus and Cuiabá do risk the white elephant label.
Like all the naysayers from four years ago, I think Brazil will pull off a nice World Cup. The stadiums look great, and I hope they continue to get use from the local populace for years to come. I agree with the previous poster that the stadium in Rustenburg was pretty drab by World Cup standards, but I always liked the Mbebele Stadium in Nelspruit and Green Point in Cape Town from 2010.
What is the latest on the Corinthians Arena? I'm sure it will be ready and am really looking forward to attending a match there. Still there is a nagging doubt. How are the areas outside and the facilities, particularly for the temporary sections as that is where I will be sitting. With the test events it is the correct procedure to start well below capacity and ramp it up. I'm sure that with Wembley and the Olympic Stadium in London we had about 3 test events for each increasing the permitted crowd each time.
As far as I understand from Brazilian media, they tested only one of the two identical temporary structures because they didn't want to sell more than 40,000 tickets, in order to prevent having too many supporters of Botafogo there, which might lead to fights and safety concerns; nothing to do with the stadium structure. They said the builders used exactly the same standards and the same materials and plans for the two identical structures, and stress was tested exactly the same way for both, so, testing only one of them would be sufficient. Now, whether this is accurate or not I can't say, but that's what some journals were saying. I don't think the stadium will crumble or anything. I'd be more worried about riots, muggers, etc. I think the stadiums will be fine.
Why would anyone be worried about riots or muggers? As for the rioters - they are not against the tourists. They are protesting the government - they will not treat the tourists badly in any way. As for muggers - just as any big city in the world, you have to watch out and try to be safe. Of course, there will be A LOT of police and security around the world cup venues. So I don't think this should be a concern. Enjoy your trip and welcome to Brazil!