The World Cup Draws Ever Nearer: Luckily Sochi Inherited Sports Infrastructure From the Olympics
The 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Arseny Molchanov.
After the Olympics, Sochi inherited a large sports infrastructure. The famous Fisht Stadium in the Imereti Lowlands was put into operation in 2013.
After 5 years, 6 World Cup games will take place here. The Portuguese and Spanish teams will be the first to try out the new field on June 15th. 22 miles of drainage pipes were laid under the field to meet the FIFA requirements. The stadium manager and I walk along the border made out of artificial grass so as not to bring bacteria onto the natural lawn.
Oleg Trushkin, Fisht stadium manager: "Through the base of the surface, under the lawn, there are special pipes that ventilate the soil and the roots, which creates more comfortable conditions for the growth of the roots. They also warm the lawn in the winter".
During the reconstruction, two 59x32 foot screens were installed in the stadium. Two more were installed along the perimeter. Now there are additional seats for the audience on the south and north stands. The roof and the part of the metal structureы were replaced.
Oleg Trushkin: "The Eiffel Tower consists of 7,000 tons of metal. Here we removed 14,000 tons of metal".
2,000 LED lamps were installed in the roof, which has eight different modes of operation. For instance, they can display the Russian flag, the night sky, or just flash in different colors. The Fisht stadium cost 23.5 billion rubles ($375 million). 3.5 billion rubles ($56 million) was spent on renovations in order to fit the football requirements. One year ago, the arena hosted a major tournament, the FIFA Confederation Cup. The seating capacity then was enlarged from 40,000 seats to 45,000. The stadium was connected to six power substations to avoid any problems with power supply. Also, there are four sets of supporting diesel generators. The exit routes from the stands were thought out carefully. It would take seven minutes to evacuate in the case of fire.
Oleg Trushkin: "There are made a lot of wide exits. An evacuation can be done quickly".
On typical football days, taxi drivers will be waiting for fans at designated spots.
The transfer from Sochi Airport will be arranged on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Sochi Airport in Adler ranks 5th by passenger traffic after Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and in Saint Petersburg, Pulkovo. It gained its current appearance in 2009 when a new 10-gate terminal was built. Its revenue is now even higher than that of Krasnodar Airport: 4.5 billion roubles ($72 million). The passenger traffic of Sochi Airport has been growing roughly by a third every year. Today, the airport receives about 2,500 passengers per hour. But the peak traffic was in February 2014, during the Olympic Games, when the airport was receiving 3,800 passengers per hour. During the World Cup, the traffic will be even greater. But they're ready for this. Scheduled and charter flights are performed by 40 airlines in 60 different directions. That's why the fans won't need to fly to other cities via a transfer in Moscow.
Sergey Filippov, Sochi Airport deputy director: "During every day of the World Cup, it'll be possible to fly from Sochi Airport almost to any city, where the games will be taking place. In particular, there'll be routine flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Samara. Also, there'll be several flights per week to Volgograd, Kaliningrad, and Kazan".
The airport is located 18 miles from downtown where one can get to by taxi, bus or Lastochka train. The buses and marshrutkas start running every 20 minutes at 6:00 AM The bus fare will be 80-100 rubles ($1.3-1.6). A taxi trip will cost 1,500 rubles ($24), and the train fare will be 102 rubles ($1.6).
FC Zhemchuzhina used to play at this city stadium. Now, it's a training camp for boxers and track and field athletes. Soon the stands' renovations will be over, and the Brazilian team will live and train here, almost in the center of the city.
In all, for teams will stay in Krasnodar Krai. Spain's team, La Furia Roja, will stay at FC Krasnodar Academy Base. Denmark's team will settle down in Vityazevo, which is a 10-minute drive from the airport. The Scandinavian media measured the distances of the national team's flights and compared them with the route from Copenhagen to Milan. Iceland's and Sweden's teams will stay in neighboring Gelendzhik. Poland's team will stay in Sochi, as well as Brazil's team.
Anatoly Pakhomov, Sochi mayor: "We've had many of international events in the past four years at different levels. They were the Military World Games, the Olympic Games, the World Choir Games, the World Festival of Youth and Students, the World Cups and so on. So, the city's infrastructure is ready."
Sochi is ready to receive one million tourists. But that is over the whole championship period. There are 200,000 spots in the hotels. All of the officials, delegates, and football players have their accommodation paid for by the FIFA accommodation agency, which books places in large batches. The price for rooms during the World Cup is regulated by a special executive order. A double room in Moscow is, at most, 12,200 rubles ($195), per night. The same room will cost 10,500 ($168) in St. Petersburg, 9,000 ($144) in Tatarstan, and 5,000 ($80) in Mordovia. It'd be an exaggeration to say, that the hotel market is swamped.
Vladimir Medved: "This is our standard room".
Hotelier Vladimir Medved is showing the rooms still available for the dates of the games. Business class rooms cost 12,000 ($192). The apartments are three times cheaper. But Vladimir admits, the demand for 4-star hotels is higher by a third this year.
Vladimir Medved: "We have a wide variety of rooms in our hotel. The minimum price has been set to 4,200 ($67). The option of so-called "long-term accommodation" is quite popular. The prices for that are even lower, they start at 3,000 ($48)".
Five million tourists can visit Russia during the World Cup.
Oleg Safonov, head of Rosturizm: "There are more than 15,000 hotels in Russia. And there are more than 8,000 hotels in the cities and regions where the World Cup will take place. Tourists and fans can settle down in the private sector, for instance, in flats, apartments, private houses".
But the high demand attracts those who want to earn a lot of money on the fans. Rospotrebnadzor has revealed 600 cases of price-gouging since the beginning of the year and charged a total sum of 7,000,000 ($112,000) in fines. Special attention will be given to those who make their clients buy additional services as something voluntary but in fact compulsory: sauna, tours, massage. Or sometimes they suggest buying the whole month.
Oleg Prusakov, Rospotrebnadzor: "Today, it's difficult to ascertain a fact of payment. So, we have difficulties with applying the law".
We were assured at Rospotrebnadzor that the fines are only the beginning of the story. The biggest part of legal prosecution awaits the hoteliers after the World Cup. The reservations have already been made, but the money hasn't been transferred yet. The local authorities watch all unusual situations as well. For instance, the Sochi administration is monitoring the hoteliers.
Anatoly Pakhomov, Sochi mayor: "The hoteliers understood they could raise the prices, but it would cause trouble. The consequences will be as following: we won't recommend tourists to stay at such hotels. This way, their business could just collapse. An accommodation bureau was established in the city. Any person who has arrived in the city can come to the bureau and receive consultation. He can find a place that suits his budget and wants.”
"Control center for highways, hello".
The new holiday season is unusual for the specialists of the call center. How to get to somewhere, where the transfer is, and how much the fare is. They will answer to tourists in five languages: Russian, English, French, German and Spanish.
"You can see the key transport interchange hubs on the screens".
Usually, the specialists monitor traffic and accidents. But soon they'll begin a systematic monitoring of all Sochi public transport. There'll be 250 buses running all over the city. They are free for holders of tickets or fan IDs.
Vyacheslav Bauer, Sochi Transport Department: "There'll be a special zone for taxis at the stadium. One of them, with spots for 50 cars, is near the stadium, while the second one is a little bit further. It has about 300 spots for cars. It should be mentioned, that after the game, you won't have to order a taxi by phone, you just need to come to the zone, where taxis will be working on a first come, first serve basis".
Display panels at many bus stops indicate the buses' arrival times, including the ones going to the airport. The pay rate should be placed in every certified car. Also, there should be GPS systems and surveillance cameras installed. For many taxi drivers, this isn't anything new after the Olympic Games in 2014.
Anatoly Pakhomov, Sochi mayor: "The classified taxis that will be working in the city will be put under special control of the carrier".
More than half of tourists will stay in Moscow. Many can face unforeseen expenses, obtrusive services or force majeures. The organizers are trying to minimize the risks. But it's the fans who are in charge of how they are going to spend their time in Russia.