Andrew Zimbalist

Never mind that the Brazilian government is trampling the homes and uprooting the communities of the poor in some inconveniently located favelas. Never mind that many of the million-plus residents of Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns still find their lives controlled by violent drug gangs and that the crime rate in Rio ranks among the highest in the world. Never mind that 1.5 million Brazilians are scheduled to be relocated before 2014.

There’s a party to throw — actually two — and the world will be watching. Brazil will host soccer’s World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. Years ago, when Brazil convinced the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that it had the best plan to host these mega-events, grand promises of new sporting venues and modern infrastructure were made.

If Brazil’s dreams for these games became reality, here’s what would have to happen: Brazil’s post-1994 economic boom would have to accelerate, and the country Blank I from an emerging market into a developed economy. That would enable Brazil to afford the estimated $1 trillion in public works spending to pay for renovation and construction of 12 stadiums and a massive overhaul of the national transportation infrastructure. The projected work includes: building new roads; creating a rapid-transit train between São Paulo and Rio, new subway lines in São Paulo (especially Line 4 from the airport to downtown), and new ports; and expanding 12 airports — not to mention building new hydroelectric plants and transmission lines to power it all. The investment and construction would generate hundreds of thousands of new jobs and investment opportunities would multiply.

That’s not all. The World Cup would attract tens of thousands of tourists to Brazil in 2014 and even more to the Summer Olympics in 2016. Staying for a week or more, the sports fans would pump millions into the economy by spending on meals, entertainment and accommodations.

To cap off this fantasy scenario, worldwide media attention would enable Brazil to brand itself once and for all on the global stage as a vibrant, rich, diverse, and sophisticated country - equal to any in the industrial north.

A lovely scenario, but one that neither the World Cup nor the Olympics has ever spawned and one that is even less likely to transpire in Brazil.

Getting to Work

For now, though, the biggest concern for Brazil is beginning and finishing the myriad construction projects that were part of its World Cup and Olympics bid proposals. The obstacles are severe: they include labor shortages, bureaucratic encumbrances, political corruption, legal entrapments, insufficient funds, incompetence, and inadequate infrastructure.

As Brazil’s Sports Minister Orlando Silva warns, “We need to begin to control people’s expectations. The idea that we are going to make up for 30 years without [having made] investment in infrastructure was probably never realistic.”

Source: http://www.americasquarterly.org/zimbalist. Accessed on 04/08/2014

All alternatives bring synonyms for “brand” (fifth paragraph), unless: