Rio de Janeiro Stadium lays off 75 percent of staff ahead of Olympics 2016

About 75 percent of staff at Rio De Janeiro’s Marcana Stadium, which hosted the 2014 World Cup, have been sacked by its administrators.

The group formed by Odebrecht, a construction company, and entertainment group AEG announced late on Monday that 40 staff were deposed. The decision came eight months before the 2016 Olympics. The Games organizers, who will be using the stadium for up to nine months, will be appointing their own workers at the stadium for that period.

According to the administrators, while the facility is under the Olympic control, the move has been taken to reduce costs. Maintenance of the stadium and arena tours will be taken over by contractors.

The stadium, taken over by Odebrecht in 2013, will be hosting the Olympic football matches as well as the opening and the closing ceremonies. The Associated Press reported that the stadium consortium suffered a huge loss of $43.62 million and is holding talks with Rio de Janeiro’s state government on a new operating contract.

One of the reasons attributed to the loss by the administrators is that they were unable to build a retail complex on the site. Protests to stop the eviction of an indigenous community from a broken down museum complex hindered such a development. However, as per the Brazilian media, the operations of the stadium would go back to the state in 2017.

BN Americas reported that Odebrecht is planning to sell off 95 percent of its shares in Marcana Stadium to the Rio de Janeiro’s state government to boost cash reserves. Local news service O Globo reported that Fluminense football club and a constortium comprised by Brazil's BWA and France's Lagardère are showing keen interest in the business. The remaining 5 percent shares belong to AEG.

Unpaid utility bills led to electricity cut off at another Rio de Janeiro’s stadium where the track and field events will be held.