Life after World Cup, after all

TOKYO—Despite dire predictions they would go to waste, the state-of-the-art stadiums built for the 2002 soccer World Cup are getting plenty of use four years after Japan cohosted the tournament with South Korea.
       Japan spent a reported US$4.5 billion (€3.52 billion) to build nine World Cup stadiums, which many predicted would end up being spectacular white elephants in the middle of nowhere. That’s not the case in Japan, a country where it’s not unusual for 50,000 fans to show up for the final of a high-school baseball tournament.
       The biggest source of revenue for most of the World Cup stadiums comes from the domestic J-League, where 26 of the 28 soccer clubs in both the first and second divisions reported a profit in 2005.
       Attendance figures of 57,000 per match for popular teams like the Urawa Reds are not uncommon. Average club gate revenues in the top division were US$5.5 million (€4.31 million) in the 2004 business year.
       In 2005, the Reds, who play at World Cup Saitama Stadium 2002, had an average attendance of 39,000.
       Sapporo Dome, which hosted a 2002 World Cup match between England and Argentina, is the home of both J-League team Consadole Sapporo and baseball’s Nippon Ham Fighters, who moved to Sapporo in 2004.
       When there are no soccer or baseball games in town, the 40,000-seat stadium hosts a variety of events, including amateur sporting events, concerts and exhibitions.
       “Our profits are way up,” said Satoshi Wakai, a spokesman for the Sapporo Dome, which operates as an independent company. “Having the baseball team was a big help and hopefully the trend will continue.”
       In the fiscal year completed in March, 2005, a total of 2.2 million people went through the turnstiles at the multipurpose venue for a total of 123 events.
       Of course, it would have been better if Japan could have used existing stadiums but that wasn’t an option.
       Before the World Cup, Japan had very few stadiums that would have met Fifa’s standards.
       If local governments have trouble keeping the stadiums viable, they can always look to corporate Japan for help.
       The 70,000-seat International Stadium Yokohama, which hosted the 2002 final between Germany and Brazil, had some financial difficulties immediately following the World Cup but sold its naming rights to auto giant Nissan Motor Co. in 2005 and is host to the J-League’s Yokohama F Marinos, one of the most popular teams in the top division.
       Similarly, the Oita Big Eye on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu recently sold its naming rights and is now known as Kyushu Oil Dome. The situation is not quite as rosy in South Korea, where 10 stadiums were built.
       Attendance for South Korea’s K-League has gone down in recent years. “The attendance rate at our matches seems to be dropping these days,” said an official of K-League team Chonbuk, who declined to give his name. “Korean people only get excited about the national team. Many people like baseball or the English Premier League but aren’t really interested in the K-League.” AP