The choice of venues is one of the most important things in bidding to host such a big tournament as the World Cup — and South Africa has top stadiums in abundance.
Danny Jordaan’s bid company has listed 13 venues where the matches will be played.Four have yet to be built and the rest are to be upgraded to international standards, especially the media centres.
The existing stadiums are Soccer City, Ellis Park, Loftus, Royal Bafokeng, Peter Mokaba, Free State, Orkney, King’s Park (rugby) and Newlands. New stadiums will be built in Nelspruit, Shoshanguve, Kimberley and Port Elizabeth.
Ian Riley, the manager of events and logistics for the 2010 bid, says the reason a number of rugby stadiums were chosen is to save costs. Upgrading existing venues and building new ones will cost about R1,8-billion. The money will come from the government, the lottery, the South African Football Association, sponsors and, indirectly, from the stadium owners.
This is comparatively cheap, because it cost Korea and Japan $6-billion to build 20 new stadiums. Germany is spending €1,8-billion just to upgrade its existing venues.
Fifa requires that in the group stages of the World Cup stadiums should have a capacity of 40 000 fans and 5 000 media representatives, but for the opening game, semifinals and final the stadium should seat 60 000 and accommodate 9 000 journalists.
Strict Fifa rules on seating arrangements mean South African soccer fans should gear themselves to learn to sit in the seat allocated by their ticket number. Other infrastructure to be upgraded are media and broadcast centres, hotels and transportation routes.
Tickets for last year’s tournament in Korea and Japan cost $360 to $1 000. But Riley says prices will be lower for games in South Africa. Tickets will be divided into several categories and will also depend on where in the stands the soccer fan wants to sit.