Nobody Is Paying The Electric Bill At One Of Rio's Olympic Stadiums

Add this to the pile of problems already arisen around the 2016 Summer Olympics, due to start in Rio de Janeiro in a few months: The power has been shut off at the stadium meant to host the track and field competitions, and nobody can decide who’s going to pay to turn it back on.

There’s a dispute between the city government and the soccer club Botafogo over who is responsible for the stadium’s utility costs. The government claims that the bill has been Botafogo’s problem since May 2015; the club tells the Associated Press that the government is supposed to be reimbursing them for the costs. Whoever’s ultimately responsible for the payment has a pretty hefty debt on their hands. From the AP:

The Brazilian website Globo Esporte, which is connected to the newspaper O Globo, said the unpaid bills totaled 1 million reals ($250,000). It reported electricity has been off since last week and said water was cut more than a month ago.

The website said two months of payments were in arrears.

In other news, Brazil is currently in a deep recession and Olympic organizers are trying to chop $500 million off the budget for hosting the games, keeping it at a tidy $1.9 billion. Let this be your periodic reminder that hosting the Olympics is never, ever a good idea.

Photo via AP

[ AP]