Those magnificent new stadiums built in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup appear to be heading for a catastrophe, as the reality of keeping their financial heads above water looms ever closer. The ongoing use of the stadia should have been decided before the first brick was laid, but this seems to have been a bit of an afterthought. The run up to a World Cup can be a bit headstrong for a lot of people, and decisions made then can be regretted later and will continue for a generation or more.
The recent Tri Nations match held at Soccer City appeared to be a success, despite an All Blacks victory securing the Tri Nations trophy. However this is a lone swallow in a very long summer. The Cape Town stadium has been offered to Western Province Rugby as a proposed move and a bid had been made by them to run the stadium in partnership with Sail StadeFrance. Despite the willingness on the part of Western Province unsatisfactory council conditions coupled with the financial aspect has led them to remain at Newlands.
Each of the new stadiums needs to host between 12 and 15 sell out venues annually with tickets costing between R200 and R250 each to be able to balance the books. This is looking increasingly unlikely as they are not multi purpose stadiums, but were designed for sole use, under strict FIFA guidance. One of the main problems is size, as they cannot, in their existing format, host international cricket matches. Without input from these major sports, all more commercially successful than football (soccer), the long term future is very bleak and that hefty R16 billion investment appears a poor choice.
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