Power was cut from Rio’s ghost-town Olympic stadium because of $930,000 in unpaid bills

Nacho Doce/Reuters

Less than five months after the Olympics, Rio’s Maracana Stadium is now a ghost town that has no electricity.

According to Reuters, Brazilian power company Light said in a statement on Thursday that they have cut the electricity because of unpaid bills.

“Light cut the power to the Maracana this morning,” the statement said. “The bills are behind since October.”

According to Reuters, the debt is around 3 million reais or $939,937. According to Light, about 1.3 million is owed by the owners of the building, while 1.7 million is owed by the organizers of the Rio Olympics. The company added that the organizing committee is negotiating their amount.

Earlier in January, O Globo reported that Maracana is deserted with stray cats roaming the property. The field has dead grass, dry spots, and missing chairs while the inner hallways have a “smell of mold,” with stolen furniture and leftover food at the bars.

Here’s what the field looks like now:

Nacho Doce/Reuters

The Rio government and Olympic organizing committe are currently in a dispute over who is in charge of the upkeep in the building.

In the meantime, it appears nobody has stepped up, and the building, as so often happens with Olympic venues, is wasting away.