Copa América Still Pulling in Dough with Half-Empty Stadiums

So far, 125,172 have tickets have been sold, an average of 25,034 per match

São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

Even though the Copa America in Brazil has failed to sell out stadiums, the tournament is still pulling in millions of revenue. With tickets averaging R$304 (US$ 79), the tournament thus far has pulled in R$ 38 million (US$9.8 million) in only five matches.

Images on TV show empty stadiums, with less than half of the stadiums occupied in most games.

So far, 125,172 have tickets have been sold, an average of 25,034 per match. The last Copa with a lower average attendance was 2004 in Peru, which averaged 19,9 thousand people per game.

Images on TV show empty stadiums, with less than half of the stadiums occupied in most games. - Fernanda Canofre/Folhapress

The match between Venezuela and Peru, at the Grêmio Arena, last Saturday (15), had a public of only 11,107 - the lowest so far - resulting in an income of R$ 2.4 million ( US$ 620 thousand)  .

Despite the million dollar box office, less than 20% of the stadium was occupied in Porto Alegre.

The largest attendance so far was the opening match between Brazil and Bolivia, in Morumbi, with 46,342 sold tickets and a 69% stadium occupancy rate. The match pulled in R$ 22.47 million (US$5.8 million), the highest in Brazilian soccer history.

The organizers of the event, the South American confederation is not pleased with the attendance at the games.

"We are aware of the situation in South America, in which people like to buy things at the last moment," said the president of Conmebol, the Paraguayan Alejandro Dominguez, on Thursday (13), before the start of the competition.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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