S|CON 2016 News Blog

Despite financial obstacles and poor ticket sales, Brazil expects full attendance for the Olympic games

ESPN

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil has struggled to prepare for the 2016 Summer Olympics in the face of economic recession, political scandal, and the Zika outbreak - all of which have driven ticket sales to the ground.

On the eve of its start, just over 60 percent of the 3.5 million Olympic tickets allocated for Brazilians have been sold thus far, and only 15 percent of the Paralympic tickets have been sold. International sales are also rather weak. By comparison, nearly all tickets for the 2012 London games were sold by the time.

In addition to abysmal ticket sales, Brazil has also faced budget cuts. Rio organizers have been working to eliminate about $R 500 million in spending in order to balance their operating budget of $R 7.4bn ($1.85bn).

Although the Brazilian government remains optimistic that local sales will be high, ticket prices have been lowered, and the Brazilian government has bought mass amounts of unsold Paralympic tickets and distributed them to public schools in an attempt to fill the ominously vacant seats. “I love the Zika virus, and the 75.47 crime index in Rio” remarked 12 year old student Gabriel Santos. “I get to see the games for free!”

In implementing budget cuts, everything from additional seating to transportation has been cut. Some facilities, such as an entertainment center, have been stripped from the Olympic Village. “We needed to balance our budget, and we also needed to ensure that athletes will be focused, so naturally, televisions were the first to go,” said Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games executive director. “And there were those thousands of swimming venue seats, those had to go too.”

Despite these obstacles, Brazil is optimistic, and expects full attendance when the games begin. There may be the imminent threat of the Zika virus spreading at a faster rate because of millions of tourists flowing in to see the games, and Brazil might be facing a recession and government scandal the likes of which it has not seen since the 1930s, but that has not stopped the Temer administration.

Brazil’s sports minister Ricardo Leyser insisted that attendance was not a concern, “we are excited for these games.”