The biggest of all events... At least for Brazil

I come from a country where soccer plays a very important role. It is the ultimate entertainment, the sport all children play while growing up, the one some make a career out of it, an escape for the middle-class worker during the week, the fun of the weekends, the joy of the people. Brazilians are in love with soccer. So to be the host of its biggest event in the world should be an honor to my country: but there is a lot more to the World Cup 2014 than soccer.

Even though their love for soccer is bigger than most things, Brazilians are having a tough time accepting what comes with the World Cup. An estimate of the Brazilian Ministry of Sports points out that R$ 22 billions (roughly US$ 9,5 billions) have been spent by the government in order to attend FIFA’s demands for the event. For the people it's a sum that could have been invested in education, health care and security, areas with problems faced for quite a while. In fact, protests have been going on all over Brazil since the beginning in 2013, claiming “Copa não, educação” (Not the World Cup, but education) and also a stop to corruption, violence and other issues.

It came to FIFA’s attention that the riots might get stronger and be a threat to the event. Extra demands were made regarding the stadiums’ security and structure. But to this day the protests go on, and it's quite clear that there is much more to a live event than stage management, contracts, artists and all the other components of a big production. Organizations have to understand the current context of the host area, the possible issues they may face because of its social and economic conditions and even if it’s worth it to have it in the first place.

For FIFA it's a quick “yes”: this is going to be the most profitable World Cup in history. They should make approximately US$ 5 billions, 35% more than in 2010 and 110% more than in 2006. Even with all the protests, the delay in construction (sixstadiums are no close to being finished), accidents happening (at one of the arenas, “Itaquerão”, in São Paulo, a crane fell and killed two workers), and still major issues with public transport, accommodations for the tourists, public security and not enough trained professionals, everyone wants to go to the “soccer country” for the World Cup: more than 500 million tourists are expected to go to Brazil and expend over US$ 3 billion during the event.

That and all other investments made by private parties and the greatness of the Cup itself represent approximately a US$ 90 billions impact to Brazil’s economy. Sometimes it fails to the people to see that not all is bad when the world is paying moreattention to you. Of course that social issues cannot be forgotten, but Brazil can get more from the World Cup than Brazilians might think.