Why is this year’s Copa America failing to draw crowds?

Al Jazeera reports

The world’s oldest football competition has lost its luster because to COVID, politicization, and the European Champions.

Diego Santos, a manager at a renowned Belo Horizonte bar-restaurant, squints up at a dimly lit television.

Santos is referring to the lack of interest in this year’s Copa America, which is football’s oldest event, and is taking place in Brazil.

Brazil seemed to have scored unexpectedly. Santos glances around for confirmation, but few, if any, of the sprinkling of spectators are watching, let alone applauding, the match.

Santos’ words are drowned out by the stillness, which hangs in the air like the great Pele jumping for a header.

However, this isn’t always the case. The elegant bar-restaurant is one of several in the shadow of the cavernous Mineirao, the stadium most known for hosting Brazil’s most infamous athletic humiliation: a 7-1 World Cup defeat to Germany in 2014.

This is a wonderful place to watch football, since it sits on the shore of Pampulha Lake and has a plethora of TVs. The stadium was packed two years ago when Brazil, the five-time world champions, won the Copa America on home soil.

This year, the atmosphere is calm.

“It was fantastic two years ago,” Santos told Al Jazeera, recalling long lines of yellow and green-clad supporters outside and security officers turning away revelers.

“This year, though, no one is questioning if we’ll show the games or not. Nobody gives a damn. More people are wearing home team jerseys than the Selecao, and I’ve been asked to broadcast the European Championships more than the Copa América.”

More apathy than adoration

The coronavirus epidemic is the most evident cause of the absence of atmosphere. Brazil has recorded over 18.5 million cases, with 518,066 fatalities, the world’s second-highest death toll behind the United States.

More people die each day from COVID in Brazil than in any other country, owing to a delayed vaccination campaign and the government’s refusal to push for social distancing measures.

COVID isn’t the only reason why people aren’t attending the Copa America.

Everything from broadcast rights to the renowned yellow football jersey has been heavily politicized.

Furthermore, Brazil’s ongoing domestic leagues, as well as a European Championship featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, World Player of the Year Robert Lewandowski, and world champions France, have resulted in an oversaturated football calendar in which the Brazilian national team is no longer the most compelling draw.

Even a South American tournament’s novelty is becoming thin. Although the Euros are being contested for the first time since 2016, the Copa America has been held four times since 2015.

All of these elements combine to ensure that the event generates more apathy among Brazilians than admiration.

The Selecao’s 3-0 triumph over Venezuela in the tournament opener on June 13 had the lowest national TV audience for an opening match in the competition’s history, as it was played without supporters in the stadium, as have all games thus far. Since then, the ratings have scarcely improved.

Cristiano Ferreira, a soldier in Belem, 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) north of Belo Horizonte, said, “It’s hard to claim COVID is the only cause.”

“Earlier this year, we had a major [health] issue, but the city is now quieter. A large number of people have returned to the streets, and bars have reopened. It’s almost as though it’s nothing out of the ordinary. People here are passionate about football, thus the local teams Remo and Paysandu are frequently discussed. But I haven’t seen much interest in the Selecao or the Copa America.”

Brazilian streets are traditionally adorned with paint and ticker-tape, automobiles covered in national flags, and the Brazil team shirt is near-omnipresent, especially during World Cups.

There is little to imply a big tournament is taking place this year, with the streets barren and the renowned yellow shirt now linked with a show of support for Brazil’s polarizing far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

“Having small flags on the streets and everyone wearing the shirt is quite typical here in Belem,” Ferreira says.

It’s also common for bars to have large screens
broadcasting the games live,
although I haven’t seen that this year.

‘Like a bad joke’

Given that the Copa America was intended to be hosted in Colombia and Argentina but was canceled owing to civil unrest and COVID-19, respectively, such a situation should not come as a complete surprise.

Bolsonaro proposed to organize the 28-game tournament despite the recommendations of the country’s skeptical health experts, seeking a weapon of mass diversion from his personal and the country’s numerous issues.

Bolsonaro is no new to criticism, and he has received a lot of it. Several major corporate sponsors pulled out, and opposition lawmakers dubbed the event a “death project.”

Walter Casagrande, a 1986 World Cup player for Brazil, accused the president of “genocide.”

Before issuing a rambling statement confirming participation, the national team hinted that it may even refuse to participate.