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TRANSCRIPT OF CONFERENCE CALL

Brasilia, Brazil June 10, 2013

Transcript: Brazil Minister of Sports - 10June13 Teleconference Page 1 of 6

Speaker: Aldo Rebelo

Brazil Minister of SportsConfederations Cup Preparations Teleconference

Monday, June 10, 2013

11:00 A.M. EST

Operator: The Brazil Minister of Sports Teleconference will start momentarily. A replay of this call will be

available toll free at 1-800-406-7325 or at 1-303-590-3030 1-800-406-7325 or at 1-303-590-

3030 until the close of Wednesday, June 12. Please enter conference ID 4623689 to access

the correct conference replay. The call will now begin.

Moderator: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for todays call with Brazils Minister of

Sports, Aldo Rebelo, who will provide an update on the Brazilian governments planning andpreparations in the six cities that will host the Confederations Cup. Minister Rebelo will be

speaking in Portuguese, followed by an English-language translation. For the benefit of all

participants, we ask that you please direct your question to Minister Rebelo in English during

the Q&A segment of the call.

Now, I would like to turn the call over to Minister Rebelo. Sir, go ahead.

Minister Rebelo: Good afternoon, all. I am very happy to be here to speak to my friends from the international

press and I would like to say that we are about to open the Confederations Cup in Brazil and

that we believe well be holding this event with the success expected not only by the country,

but also by the world. All the stadiums are ready and we are now only awaiting the opening

match with Brazil versus Japan on June 15 here in Brasilia.

We can now proceed to the Q&A session.

Moderator: Thank you, Minister Rebelo. We will now open the call for Q&A.

Operator: Our first question is from the line of Paulo Prada with Reuters.

Paulo Prada: Hi, good afternoon. Theres a debate in Brazil about the cost of all the stadiums and how its

leading to really high ticket prices not just for the Cup, but for events afterwards, the whole

elitization of football, and Id love to get the Ministers thoughts on this debate and whether

he thinks the people who really make up the bulk of the sports fan base in Brazil are beingpriced out of not just these games, but everything afterwards. Thanks.

Minister Rebelo: Regarding the costs of the World Cup in general and the cost of the stadiums, the cost of

those stadiums has changed due to a varied number of reasons. We can now assess the case

of the stadium of the Corinthians team. The estimated cost for the stadium was R$ 400

million because it was initially presented as a stadium to host only national or domestic

football/soccer events. When it was repurposed to be used as a World Cup stadium, the price

practically doubled to R$ 800 million, due to the demand the stadium has to fulfill in order to


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host the FIFA event. It required, for instance, 20,000 additional seats, more room for guests,

more areas for the press, more security, particularly because it will receive heads of state and

foreign delegations, and this is an example of how many times the costs changed due to thedemand of a World Cup stadium that wasnt foreseen before. In other cases, the costs varied

because the stadium bid only the renovation of its internal part and not of its external part

initially, and then subsequently did the bid for its external part, which then increased costs.

The price of the tickets for the World Cup is expensive and way beyond the means of many of

our poorer citizens. Due to that, we asked that FIFA take that into account and take into

account the popularity of football in Brazil, and as a result, they donated 50,000 tickets for

indigenous and Amazon population and for beneficiaries of the Bolsa Famila grant. Of course,

this may help solve the World Cup issue, but we do worry that the elitization of soccer in Brazi

may happen due to the price of the tickets that will be charged after the events are over in the

new arenas being built.

Operator: Our next question is from the line of Thierry Ogier with Les Echos.

Thierry Ogier: The general consensus seems to be that not only for the Confederations Cup, but also for the

World Cup, that the football stadiums will indeed be ready, and thats probably the most

important part of the story, but also theres been quite a bit of skepticism in relation to urban

mobility and public transport. From the Sports Ministry, do you think its a bit of a lost

opportunity to advance in this crucial area of public transport and urban mobility?

Minister Rebelo: We have been monitoring transportation and urban mobility on a daily basis. Those two areas

are part of what we call our responsibility matrix or responsibility framework, which is in fact a

project that establishes the anticipation of previously foreseen works on several areas, in

coordination with the federal government, the state government and the host cities. For the

federal government, the state government and for the host cities, these works will be

delivered in time, together with the next six stadiums, which are also set to be delivered in

December 2013. From our part, there is no doubt that these works will be ready. Airport,

security, telecommunications and urban mobility will be ready and compatible with the

expectations held by the country and by the world of having a great celebration of football in

Brazil in 2014.

Operator: Our next question is from the line of Owen Gibson with The Guardian.

Owen Gibson: On the issue of the stadiums, in South Africa, theyre currently debating the fact that manystadiums no longer have uses after the World Cup and have become white elephants. Is the

Minister worried about this happening in Brazil, particularly in stadiums in areas such as

Manaus and Brasilia that dont have top-class sides?

Minister Rebelo: The people who question the Brasilia Stadium, the Manaus Stadium, the Cuiab Stadium, and

the Natal Stadium usually do so without any idea of what those metropolises actually are.

They dont know these cities. They dont know that those are actually relevant metropolises

in their respective regions of the country, and that theyre also important tourist destinations,


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many towns with century-old sports teams, as well. The important thing to add is that these

stadiums, which have been conceived as multi-purpose arenas, can hold major sporting and

non-sporting events, football or otherwise, including fairs, congresses, concerts, etc., as wellas exhibitions and others, and are already having their areas successfully marketed. Some of

the stadiums have already sold their name right for very high amounts in their respective

markets. So, there is no chance that these stadiums will become white elephants. They will

be much more than football fields. They will be multi-purposes spaces that the cities have

lacked before and now will have to use for several different purposes.

Operator: Our next question is from the line Peer Vorderwlbecke with ARD German Radio.

Peer Vorderwlbecke:I have some rather practical questions, which is reported from my colleagues, as well, and I

can confirm that, as well, that there are some problems. I know that its not part of your

Ministry, but its problems of the organizations, with tickets, with the quality of transmissionand parking spots, like really practical things, infrastructure for press. Are you somehow

concerned, or to what extent are you concerned, that the press infrastructure will probably

not be as perfect as it could be during the Confederations Cup?

Minister Rebelo: The press infrastructure will be the best the world press can expect for an event of this size.

We will have high-speed broadband internet access in all the host cities of the World Cup

2014, and we will also have 4G connectivity in all of the host cities of the World Cup 2014, and

we may probably have the same issues that these forms of connectivity show in countries like

the U.S., France and England. As an example, I was in New York for a United Nations

conference last week and despite the fact that my phone signal has 4G access, it was very

difficult to make calls or use data. The same happened in the London Olympics, as well.

During the Olympic Games in London, it was very hard to get Internet access or even make

calls between 11:00am and 3:00pm. Of course, we will work hard for these international

problems not to repeat themselves in Brazil and to make sure that we have the best possible

service for journalists, tourists and the local population, as well. This is the effort we are

undertaking, and we are also making large investments in that area both from the government

and together with the private sector. FIFA will have a media center in Brazil, the government

will also have a media center in Rio, and we are getting ready to serve not only the 20,000

accredited journalists that have already registered for the World Cup, but also for the

independent non-FIFA accredited journalists, as well, and we are doing our best to be ready to

serve all of them the best way possible.

Operator: Our next question is from the line of Mark Bisson with World Football Insider.

Mark Bisson: Given the focus on the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, isnt there a danger that

Olympic preparations will slip behind over the next year? The IOC has already given warnings

about this delay. What assurances can you give the IOC about preparations for Rio 2016, and

that this will not happen? Thank you.


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Minister Rebelo: Brazil has offered all assurances required by the IOC and, in fact, has fulfilled all commitments

undertaken with the International Olympics Committee. The infrastructure works for the

Olympic Games all have their schedules well defined and, in fact, the works for the OlympicGames have the advantage of being fulfilled all within a single city, rather than spread

throughout 12 host cities, as is the case for the World Cup. There is a Ministry of Sports team

which is coordinating the Olympic Executive Group, which is an inter-Ministerial group

coordinated by the Ministry of Sports and with participation of several other Ministries of the

government, and we are also working in perfect synchrony with the city of Rio de Janeiro and

the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and as well with the Rio 2016, which is the body

created by the International Olympic Committee specifically to prepare the Rio Games.

Operator: Our next question is from the line of David Biller with Bloomberg News

David Biller: Good afternoon, Minister. David Biller here from Bloomberg News. Thank you for the time. Iwanted to hear your thoughts on security. Weve seen a couple of high-profile crimes

recently, a couple related to sports. One reporter was mugged after a game in Rio, another,

this was reported in O Globo, it was an official actually in the Rio Sports Ministry, was mugged

I wanted to know if there are any specific actions that the Sports Ministry is taking to prevent

petty crime or violent crime that targets tourists?

Minister Rebelo: We are particularly concerned with safety and security, not only for the public safety of our

citizens, but also for the safety of the delegations, tourists and for heads of state particularly

related to crimes of political nature. Special attention is given to this matter particularly in

light of tragedies that have already been seen, such as the ones that led to the murder of

athletes in Munich in 1972, of terrorist attempts that passed in the U.S., of attempts, such as

the one that has been in the Boston Marathon, and others. Thus, we are strongly concerned

with ensuring safety and security to all our athletes, tourists, heads of state and delegations.

And the resources we are investing to make sure that security is assured include the purchase

of equipment to train security forces all over the country, including the army, the navy, the air

force, the federal police, the civil police and the military police in each state, as well as the

Brazilian Intelligence Agency. We are also working in strong cooperation with our neighbors

and have deployed command control centers in each host city. All of these initiatives have the

aim to reduce the exposure to risk for both the local population and for guests and tourists

during this event.

Operator: Our next question is from the line of Andrew Downie with Thomson Reuters.

Andrew Downie: Good afternoon, Mr. Minister. With the start of the Copa Confederaciones just a few days

away, what mark out of 10 would you give to Brazil for its preparations so far; and if you could

do anything differently, what would you do differently?

Minister Rebelo: From zero to 10, I will give it a nine. We have been able to deliver all stadiums, but I do

believe we could have delivered them sooner to allow for the realization of more test events,

as we call them, which could have anticipated some of the problems that arose during those

test events. Apart from that, I believe that all requirements were executed in accordance with


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expectations and that we will have a Confederations Cup that will be held as expected and wil

be the main event before the World Cup 2014.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Fan Wang with Xinhua News Agency.

Fan Wang: Good afternoon, Mr. Minister. Over the past three years, we saw close cooperation between

FIFA and Brazil, and at the same time, unfortunately, we also saw misunderstandings and

arguments between the different sides. For example, last year, the FIFA Secretary General,

Jerome Valcke, once said that Brazil should be kicked in the arse to move forward, and that,

what he said obviously irritated you. So, now I would like to know, before the opening of FIFA

Confederations Cup, how will you describe the relationship of today between FIFA and the

several parts in Brazil, like the Brazilian government and the local organizing committees?

Minister Rebelo: We consider that the cooperation between the responsible parties for the World Cup 2014 tobe very good. The Brazilian government has a representative in the local organizing

committee and FIFA has manifested and reiterated its satisfaction with that cooperation. The

Brazilian government takes care to protect the national and public interests of Brazil in the

World Cup, but at the same time respects FIFAs assignment and the interest of its sponsors.

We believe that the institutional relationship between the parties should be very good and

that any difficulties have been resolved through dialogue.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Taketsugu Tobe with Kyodo News.

Taketsugu Tobe: I would like to ask a question about languages, because in Brazil, unlike the last two host

countries, South Africa and Germany, not many people in Brazil speak fluent English and this

could become a problem for tourists especially coming from countries who speak very little

English themselves. What plans do you have to solve this problem? Thank you.

Minister Rebelo: There is a training program coordinated by the Ministry of Labor and Employment and the

Ministry of Tourism specifically targeted at the people who work directly with the tourists in

this event, including staff from hotels, bars, restaurants, taxi drivers and others. These are all

being trained to serve foreign tourists, and I believe that the tourists who come will have the

work force attending to them at least minimally trained to serve them well, and I dont believe

that this will be a problem for tourists in Brazil.

Operator: Our next question is from the line of Diana Brajterman with Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Diana Brajterman: FIFA this week announced that less than three percent of the tickets for the Confederations

Cup were sold to foreigners, people from other countries, and the majority of the people in

the stadiums will be locals, between I think 60 and 80 percent. Is this disappointing for the

government, did the government expect more tourists during the Confederations Cup, and

can it really be a test for airports, hotels and other things during the Confederations Cup with

such a little presence of foreign people?


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Minister Rebelo: There was no expectation for foreign supporter presence in the Confederations Cup. Despite

being an important sports event, the Confederations Cup fails to have the appeal of a World

Cup. We, in fact, had expectations of around two percent foreign participation for the Cup,which was what actually took place. We consider it to be, however, an important test event

not only for the stadiums themselves, but also for transportation, urban mobility, safety and

telecommunications. Of course, to the extent of what the Confederations Cup represents, it is

test event for us, and as a test event, yes, we do consider it to be a successful one.

Operator: Our last question comes from the line of Roxanna Scott with USA Today.

Roxanna Scott: Yes, good afternoon, Minister. How confident are you that the six other stadiums for the

World Cup will be completed by the FIFA deadline of December 31, and are you at all

concerned with the preparations of the new stadium in Sao Paulo?

Minister Rebelo: The stadiums that started being built, all 12 of them, almost simultaneously, of those 12, six

have already been delivered, and this first delivery was actually the hardest deadline to meet.

The other stadiums to be delivered are still subject to daily monitoring by the government and

we have data that estimates how the construction work in each stadium has evolved month

over month, and with that data we can forecast whether they will be ready or not by the

deadline. And the evolution of the construction work of these stadiums since their inception,

and the month-over-month data that we collected, indicate that, yes, they can and will be

delivered in December. We have been in close contact with the responsible parties for these

stadiums to make sure that those deadlines are fulfilled.

Regarding the Sao Paulo stadium, the stadium owned by the Corinthians team, that particular

construction work ended in May with a 76 percent completion rate for the construction work.

We had a meeting with the responsible party for the stadium and we were assured of its

delivery in December.

Thank you.

Moderator: That concludes the question and answer portion of our call. Once again, thank you for

participating in this event. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact the

news bureau team with whom youve been in touch or, most directly, Katie Lowry at

[email protected] with any additional questions.

Operator: Thank you. A replay of this call will be available toll free at 1-800-406-7325 or at 1-303-590-3030 until the close of Wednesday, June 12. Please enter conference ID 4623689 to access

the correct conference replay. We also invite you to follow our BrazilGovNews social media

channels for the latest updates and information on Facebook and Twitter- at BrazilGovNews.

END

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