While the Copa America is currently being hotly contested on the pitch, the great number of empty seats in the stands continues to be a sight of disappointment.

Outside of the tournament opener between host Brazil and Bolivia at Sao Paolo’s Morumbi stadium, all the other matches so far have seen low attendance.

According to Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, the match between Japan and Chile at the same stadium drew 22,000 spectators. Considering the stadium has a total capacity of 67,000, the attendance was indeed a sorry sight to behold.

There are many possible reasons for the poor turnout, but the biggest one is undoubtedly how much one has to pay to enter the stadium. Ticket prices for group stage matches range from the cheapest 27 euros (approx.) to the most expensive 81 euros (approx.).

El Mercurio took to the streets to find out more from the locals. A worker at a telephone company commented, “There are a few games I’m interested in, but the tickets are too expensive. I can’t afford it,” while a taxi driver said, “I’ll be keen to go if the tickets are cheaper. There are many interesting matches, but I don’t think the average Brazilians can fork out the money to watch them.”

It seems that the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has taken measures to bring in the crowd by distributing tickets to schools and sports organisations, as well as lowering ticket prices. It remains to be seen if these steps will resolve the problem.

For Japanese football news: CoolJapan Soccer

Source: Yahoo

Images: gettyimages