QATAR GETS THE WORLD CUP

It's as if these committees want nobodies to win the events so as to necessitate them wasting money on making new stadiums. They delude themselves into thinking this is revitalizing to the cities.

Look at India and the Commonwealth Games. They worked out for nobody except maybe the company paid to build the shoddy things.

I bet TV and travel arrangements are easier in Qatar, though. Bringing teams to a place like New York would have been pretty expensive.

Russia is one thing, but Qatar is crazy. It's barely even a real country, just a privately owned little kingdom with a minimal population and a bunch of imported serfs. All it has is lots of oil money. Good commentary on SI -

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/grant_wahl/12/02/3thoughts.wcbid/index.html

I wouldn't be surprised if we see more bribery allegations down the road.

When people have been saying for 3 weeks that they and Russia would win and then they do it doesn't do much to quell the years long rumors of bribes.

Even Steve Nash said that the bribes must have been high to forgo budweiser sponsorship money in the US.

No booze in a Muslim country. Watching soccer is bad enough, but having to do it sober is unthinkable.

And now we have to hear a bunch of pretentious douchebags say "cutter" over and over again instead of the traditional English pronunciation of "ka-tar." Between that and the faux-educated "Pock-ee-ston" for Pakistan, it makes me want to shoot my TV. Notice they don't say "Francais" when they mean France. But they'll break out that soft "x" in Mexico in a hurry. Maybe there's a correlation... your country only gets pronounced in its native tongue if it's unfree, a third-world hellhole, or both.

IT'S A CONSPIRACY! OSAMA BIN LADEN AND THE TALIBAN HAVE TAKEN OVER THE WORLD CUP!

Sheobacca wrote:

It's as if these committees want nobodies to win the events so as to necessitate them wasting money on making new stadiums. They delude themselves into thinking this is revitalizing to the cities.

ve.

Conveniently, FIFA has connections to people who will help provide financing and construction loans. Conveniently, some of those finance partners have a few ties to people on the FIFA executive committee.

Good points, Gamecock. What fan in their right mind would travel to Qatar, the world's least partying place, to watch soccer?

The World Cup in Qatar is a farce. The country is barely on the map of world athletics. It is not on the map of world tourism. This is proof that anything can be bought, but we already knew that.

FIFA should just say the 2026 World Cup will go to the highest bidder, period.

I don't think alcohol will be a problem in Qatar during the world cup. They already have separate rules for tourists. I predict a very relaxed and liberal rules regime for alcohol purchases and consumption during the world cup.

Well, I guess there will be one thing to do there when there isn't a game.

But what else? The place is a wasteland. I wouldn't go there if I had a free trip. I already know what dirt looks like.

Shows how much they care for reducing carbon output too. A country that basically exists because of oil, playing in air conditioned outdoor arenas. Thats right up there with indoor ski slopes when it comes to energy use boondoggles.

gamecock wrote:

Notice they don't say "Francais" when they mean France.

Maybe that's because francais means "French," not "France." In French, France is still "France."

But I agree with your general point.

A message from the citizens of countries that have not worn out their welcome around the world.

Well done Qatar and good luck to you.

No, it's a message from an obscenely wealthy monarchy and the rich little clique that runs FIFA that money talks.

Awarding the WC to Qatur is no different than awarding it to Bill Gates if he ran his own little dictatorship.

The young shieks from Qatar are all-around sports fans and professional money spenders. Everything they buy is the best. Look at professional drag racing (in the US and Qatar), off-shore powerboat racing (worldwide) and horse racing (worlwide). They are after F-1 as well. The facilities they build are pristine and top notch. Qatar will host a good show.

In full disclosure, World Cup and the silly game of soccer matters not to me.

Qatar is just one more arab nation under US occupation.

One interesting aspect of all this is that 2022 is quite a long time from now. What will the Middle East be like then? Will it be more volatile or less? Or, will the general geopolitical scene be roughly the same as it is now?

sports center wrote:

The young shieks from Qatar are all-around sports fans and professional money spenders. Everything they buy is the best. Look at professional drag racing (in the US and Qatar), off-shore powerboat racing (worldwide) and horse racing (worlwide). They are after F-1 as well. The facilities they build are pristine and top notch. Qatar will host a good show.

In full disclosure, World Cup and the silly game of soccer matters not to me.

They will put on a good show, the stadiums will be impressive, alcohol will be available to those with enough money to purchase, hotel accomodations will be available to same, and everyone will spend a lot of time indoors.

The suites will sell out and expensive parties will be everywhere. FIFA will be treated like royalty and VIPs will have a great time.

What else will happen:

Attendance will be low and people who do come that are not rich will be largely bored besides watching the games themselves as just about everything else will be too expensive or just plain uncomforatble. Lots of money will be spent to create what already exists in the other bidders countries, overal revenue will not be nearly what it could have been, and the game will get great exposure in a country with very few people.

The event is too big and has too much support worldwide to truely fail it just will not be as good as it could have been if you define that as revenue produced, access to the true fan, and potential exposure to a developing market.

Norbit Damus wrote:

One interesting aspect of all this is that 2022 is quite a long time from now. What will the Middle East be like then? Will it be more volatile or less? Or, will the general geopolitical scene be roughly the same as it is now?

This is a good question. My guess is that it will be more or less the same. It really hasn't changed that much in the last thousand years, I doubt the next 12 should be much different.

I don't understand all the FIFA hate though. Imagine you're FIFA. You control something of great value (the location of World Cup 20xx). You shouldn't profit from this? You should just give it away for... for what? The good of mankind?

FIFA's getting paid. Good for them.

That's a pitty that portugal and spain didn't win for 2018.