Sports mega-events and the conflict between the “old” and the “new” in the preservation of stadiums listed as urban heritage: the case of Maracanã.
The olympic stadiums and the stadiums where the final matches of the FIFA World Cup were played are unique sports facilities, which outperfomed their primary functions and the ephemeral nature of the mega-events that were built to, becoming symbols of the cities where they are inserted. Consequently, some of these facilities were recognized and listed as urban heritage. However, while it legitimized cultural values, the listing of these places also brought a great challenge: their preservation. Regarding that matter, the Maracanã stadium, one of the most recognized in the world within football, constitutes an object for extensive critical analysis. If, on the one hand, it represents a national symbol and, above all, of Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand, it was considered obsolete to host the mega-events coveted by the city, being submitted to a series of interventions to receive the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship, the 2007 Pan American Games, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Whereas that Maracanã is listed as a heritage, as far federal as municipal levels, the character of these interventions is questioned because, while they promoted its modernization, they de-characterized the stadium, which is still the subject of an intense debate in Brazil. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify and understand the Maracanã renovation process, based on the analysis of the conflict between the standardization of stadiums used in sports mega-events and their preservation as an urban heritage in the city of Rio de Janeiro.