Maybe this will help. Consider what the point of hosting a World Cup is. If it's to give the biggest number of fans the best possible experience in terms of stadiums, facilities, infrastructure and safeties all at (relatively) affordable prices, while honoring those nations that have passionate fans and venerable traditions, then it would only ever really rotate between the same three or four countries. Or, in fact, you could just have it in Germany every four years.
But if you believe there's an evangelizing element to it and that as many as possible should get a chance to experience it to some degree, then you're going to employ different criteria. You'll push the boat out, you'll take risks, you'll test boundaries.
In case you had not figured it out, Sepp Blatter, the FIFA supremo, leans far more toward the latter camp. And he can afford to lean that way because -- here's a dirty little secret -- it really doesn't matter that much to the bottom line what the actual traveling fans think or experience. The vast majority live the World Cup through the magic of television and, via the tube, seen one stadium, seen them all. It really doesn't make much of a difference. Just as -- when you're sitting on your couch at home or standing in a bar with fellow supporters around the corner from your house -- it matters little whether human rights are being broken in a World Cup host country, whether women and sexual minorities are being discriminated against, whether there's a free press, whether there's crime or disease or 120-degree weather. None of it matters.
Qatar Win World Cup Bid
Comments