FOOTBALL AND MONEY The stadium of 234 million Euros, inaugurated by a team of players worth 400 million Euros

The largest building intended for athletic purposes, erected over the last 30 years in Romania, will be inaugurated today on the occasion of the football game between the national teams of Romania and France, which counts for the qualifying rounds of the European Football Championship of 2012. The event has attracted huge interest, far more than the match itself, especially since the initial attempt to inaugurate it was a failure due to the unreliability of the leaders of the Argentine Football Federation.

In spring 2007, the Mayoralty of Bucharest signed a contract with Max Bogl&Astaldi for the construction of a stadium with 50,300 seats, for a total price of 119 million Euros. The initial estimate proved too conservative, as the entire construction cost almost double, (approximately 234 million Euros). This budget overrun aroused public indignation, but also increased interest in the project, as proven by the fact that, on the two occasions that the mayoralty opened the gates of the arena to the public, several hundred thousand people went in to see what their money was being spent on.

Despite the enormous investment, it still can not match the combined value of the players on the two teams, who together are worth 400,000,000 Euros. Truth be told, the team trained by Laurent Blanc accounts for the bulk of that sum, as the French team is valued at no less than 348,000,000 Euros on transfermarkt.de. Together, the Romanian team is worth 52,500,000 Euros, as its value decreased after Chivu and Rădoi retired and Mutu and Tamaş were expelled from the team.

Not everything is perfect when it comes to the new stadium. Even the authorities admit that. In the event of major incidents, the evacuation of the spectators from the National Arena could prove very dangerous. During the simulations performed over the last few weeks, the Gendarmerie practiced several ways of evacuating an isolated group of spectators, or an entire sector of aggressive supporters. They encountered a major problem: the steps of the second level of the arena, placed about 45 meters above the surface of the field, are steep and very narrow. This is precisely why security measures will be enhanced to avoid dangerous situations, which would require evacuating the spectators. Things aren"t so great when it comes to the grass either. In a press release, the Mayoralty of Bucharest stated the following: "The grass rolls were mounted in July, and the court had been ready since August 10th, in time for the Romania Argentina football match. This stadium was built to host the final of the Europa League of 2012, which would have ensured enough time for the grass to bond. After that date (August 10th), the extremely high temperatures, as well as the lack of rain, prevented the roots from developing properly, which was necessary to ensure a strong bond between the rolls of grass and the support layer. (...) It bears mentioning that the mayoralty of Bucharest has not yet signed the acceptance certificate for the work on the field, and will only pay the invoice of the Contractor after it being tested over the course of several official matches. Considering the issues that always arise during the initial games on a new field, the Mayoralty had a choice between letting the grass mature, and not use the court, and the risk of having it destroyed to a certain degree, and cause it to need replacing. (In case the grass deteriorates, the costs must be borne by the promoter of the event and the football clubs playing the games etc.)". Basically, Steaua, Rapid and Oţelul, which will play their games for the European cups on this stadium could find themselves footing yet another bill - for remaking its grass - after playing their home games. The same goes for the Romanian Football Federation, which organizes the matches of the Romanian football team.