The African-based Southern Times reports that the Angolan government is “pouring billions of [the equivalent of South African] rand into new stadiums, hotels and airports” in preparation for their hosting of African Cup of Nations footie tournament in January 2010. While there’s no mention of the total cost of the process, 2.7 billion million rand (a little over USD $266 billion) will alone go to improving four airports in the region.
This is great and I hope that the ACON tournament goes a long away in promoting both the homeland and pride of the Angolan people, but I REALLY hope that some of this money goes towards nailing down the particulars needed to broadcast matches outside of the continent. The 2008 tourney received a boatload of hype on word-of-mouth alone, driving demand to see the games. But political red tape in Ghana, the host country that year, prevented that. There will be more people that want to see the games from their living rooms instead of traveling to see them and I hope that the Angolan government takes that into consideration.
The official tournament site is here.