Rio 2016 Ordered to Complete Maracana Repairs

(ATR) A Rio de Janeiro State judge ordered Rio 2016 to complete nearly $160,000 in "maintenance repairs" for the Maracanã in the next month.

Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada told Around the Rings the organizing committee was always aware of the looming repairs, but must abide by the judge’s timeline. Andrada said that a company has been chosen to perform the repairs and that Rio 2016 was meeting with Maracanã S.A. operators currently to discuss which day the construction can start.

"When we handed the stadium back to them we had a contract signed and in this contract it said we had to do the repairs, so everything the judge decided has already been written and signed in a contract," Andrada said. "We think it was show off by the state attorney general."

Andrada says that the $158,000 [R$505,000] needed to complete the repairs is earmarked and there will be "no worries" about payments.

Since the Rio 2016 Paralympics closing ceremony in September, the Maracanã has fallen on hard times. The consortium in charge of the building’s concessions, Maracanã S.A., initially refused to reassume control of the stadium, citing damage done by Rio 2016. In the meantime, Rio’s top football clubs arranged deals to assume control to operate the stadium for important national league matches at the end of the year.

The situation came to a head in January when power to the stadium was cut off. The iconic pitch began to degrade and parts of the stadium were looted. The dispute over utilities payment was solved on Feb. 23, after Maracanã S.A. agreed to pay $420,000 in unpaid bills.

Shortly after the dispute was resolved, Rio football club Flamengo struck a deal to operate the stadium for its March 8 Copa Libertadores match against Argentine club San Lorenzo. Flamengo won the match 4-0 on a pitch described to ATR as "more or less" good by some of the more than 60,000 spectators in attendance.

"[That match] proves that we were right all the time," Andrada said. "In two minutes the stadium was ready for a huge party. I think the Brazilian public would rather see goals at the Maracanã than complaints."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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