Keller @ Large: Boston Shouldn't Follow Brazil's Misplaced Priorities
BOSTON (CBS) - The World Cup is quite a spectacle, isn't it, all those dazzling atheletes, spectacular goals, and delirious fans?
It's fun to watch, but let's be honest – none of us will be watching when the tournament is over and Brazil is stuck with billions of dollars worth of stadiums that will rarely, if ever, be used again.
As the NewYork Times reported over the weekend, it cost $450 million to build the 40,000-seat stadium in Natal, a city of less than a million people that does not have a soccer team to play in it going forward that can draw more than a few thousand.
Three other small cities built new stadiums that are also "expected to become World Cup white elephants because none of them have soccer teams that can consistently fill them." Two billion dollars total, most of it public funds in a country with chronic poverty.
And the Times notes this comes as no surprise – 55,000-seat Cape Town stadium in South Africa, where they held the last World Cup, sits empty around the year.
This is the type of foolish public-policy decision boosters of a Boston Olympic Games want to foist on us.
They're talking about a huge new stadium down on the waterfront to host the opening and closing ceremonies and track-and-field events. And after the two weeks are over?
Well, Boston does need a place to dump snow after big winter storms.
Read the Times article yourself, and see if you aren't appalled by Brazil's misplaced priorities.
Then see if you like the idea of inserting us into that picture.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
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