Brazil's $3 billion World Cup stadiums are becoming white elephants a year later

(Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images) The Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba was closed for renovations earlier this year.
Nearly a year after the 2014 World Cup, many of the 12 stadiums Brazil built and renovated for the event have fallen into disuse.

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and the AP's Tales Azzoni have each written stories about what has been going on with the stadiums in recent weeks, and they don't paint a pretty picture.

Brazil spent more than $3 billion on the stadiums, some of which were built in far-flung locations without popular local professional teams to sustain them after the tournament. A year later, some sit empty and others are running at a loss, and even the stadiums that host regular domestic games have been plagued by disputes between the clubs and the stadium operators.

The country's sports minister has even acknowledged the failed investment of the 2014 World Cup stadiums, telling Reuters of the 2016 Rio Olympics, "Differently from the World Cup, we are leaving a legacy."

Here's the rundown of the problems facing the stadiums:

The Arena Amazonia in the jungle city of Manaus cost $300 million to build, even though there's no top-flight team in the town and it's hundreds of miles from the more populated areas of Brazil. NPR reports that the stadium isn't even hosting local league games because it's too expensive. In addition, the promised income from things like concerts isn't coming in as expected. Kiss even skipped the Amazonian city on its tour of Brazil. The stadium hosted just 11 events in the five

months after the tournament.