This must all be added to the cup’s negative legacy for Brazil. Much of it is counted in debt. Despite promises that no public cash would be used, 90 per cent of financing for stadiums came from the public sector. While the president has argued that no federal money has been spent on these, almost half of the ?2.6 billion spent has been in the form of loans from federal-controlled banks, principally the national development bank BNDES.
Four of these stadiums are instant white elephants with no anchor tenant or viable means of maintaining themselves no mind pay off the capital loans. Given that BNDES is funded by income tax it is no exaggeration to say Brazil’s poor helped fund the month-long party enjoyed by the country’s rich who got to go to the matches while the poor watched on TV at home or in bars.
