RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CelebrityAccess) — Six months after the fanfare of the 2016 Summer Games wrapped up in Rio de Janeiro, the city is now facing vacant venues, and unpaid bills.
According to ABC News, organizers for the Rio Games still owe creditors more than $40 million and four of the new arenas constructed in the city's main Olympic Park have failed to attract private management companies, leaving the federal government of Brazil with oversight of the venues.
As well, another new arena has been taken on by the city of Rio, which is facing its deepest recession in decades, with teachers and medical workers months behind on salary.
The venues themselves are in disrepair and ABC News reported that historic Maracana stadium, site of the opening and closing ceremony, has had its power shut off after accumulating $1 million in unpaid electricity bills. As well, the venue has been vandalized by thieves who stole thousands of seats and television screens from the stadium.
"The Maracana is the biggest symbol of the way the games were managed," Mauricio Santoro, a political scientist at Rio de Janeiro State University told ABC News. "The vast majority of people in Rio will never go to the golf course, or the Olympic venues. But the Maracana is different. It's the jewel of the crown." – Staff Writers
