I consider Alan a friend but am pretty stunned by this piece.
My response would be
1) Corruption/bribes are what keeping most of the rest of the world from economic prospertiy. Good luck getting anything done in Africa without a bribe. The whole game is rigged. It's definitely the World's duty to try to stop it.
When I think about the US and it's success as a country, I always marvel at how corruption never got established as the norm here. In many parts of the world, the police don't get paid enough so they pull you over, you pay them out of pocket and move on. How you stop that once it starts? I don't know.
2) Who the hell cares if we don't host these events? We'll save money, still be able to participate and watch them on tv. Plus, given the value of the tv contracts, I'm not so sure we still won't host. The rest of the world needs to put them here every now and then to placate NBC and ramp up the tv ratings as home games get higher ratings.
3) A country paying a ton to host the World Cup isn't illegal, but bribery is. There is a big difference. I'm pretty much opposed to govts paying to build stadiums for rich sporting teams like the NFL - it's what I call rich man's welfare - but if they want to do it, at least it's done in the open. Bribing individuals is a whole other thing.
It's par for the course for these events but it shouldn't be. And it's not like the US hasn't paid bribes in the past. Criminal charges were filed in 2002 Salt Lake:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Winter_Olympic_bid_scandal
-Rojo
PS. I've never thought of it really but Alan does have a small point. Some NFL team threatening to move unless they get a stadium built is almost out in the open bribery but it's slightly different.