Brazil spent an estimated $300 million on a World Cup stadium that now sits nearly abandoned

Gene Kim

July 8, 2019 8:29 PM

In preparation for the 2014 World Cup,Brazil spent more than $3 billion building stadiums .

Today, however, not all the stadiums are put to good use.
The Arena da Amazonia located in Manaus, Brazil took four years to build and was estimated to have cost the Brazilian government $220-$300 million.
The stadium now sits mostly unused in the middle of the Amazon.

Following is a transcript of the video.

The Arena da Amazonia is located in Manaus, Brazil. Manaus is in the middle of the Amazon and very hard to travel to.

The stadium took 4 years to build. It's estimated to have cost the Brazilian government $220-$300 million. Three workers died during construction.

It's one of 12 stadiums Brazil built for the 2014 World Cup. The stadium was used for just 4 matches during the World Cup. It was also used for a few matches during the 2016 Olympics.

Now it sits mostly unused. Manaus is the 7th most populated city in the country. The stadium can seat over 40,000 fans. But most local matches bring in fewer than 1,000 people.

The stadium took in $180,000 in the first 4 months of 2016, while spending about $560,000 in operating costs.

It's not the first stadium to sit mostly unused after being used for just a few big events. It probably won't be the last.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published on