ABSTRACT
In some football-mad countries like Brazil, where stadium construction was both a stated goal of the military regime in the 1950s and 1960s and a popular topic with the public at large, there may be more square footage of architecture dedicated to stadia than to churches. In addition to the expected presence of stewards and security or police officers, closed-circuit camera monitoring systems are in widespread use in stadia around the world, especially in Europe and the United States. This represents one form of surveillance. The other is the surveillance of fans by one another, either individually or in groups. Promise comes in the shape of stadia that do more than sit empty and quiet on non-game days. Uncertainty also comes with the realization that as stadia grow in cultural importance, the question of what to do with ageing structures will be more complicated than in previous generations.
