Qatar 2022

That money talks.

 

The fact they're trying to prevent THIS from being seen by the world is reason enough to yank the thing away from them.

 

Anytime you take an event of that magnitude to a lesser-developed country, the stated idea is to promote the growth of the sport in that country and help them by sinking a ton of money into the economy (tourism, infrastructure, etc.). Fine, but I question how much good hosting the World Cup has done for the common South Africaner. It's generally a lot of money spent that doesn't trickle down to help the poorer classes.

 

Here's how "lesser-developed" Qatar is:



Its average income is $88,000 per year (No. 1 in the world in 2012). It's the freakin' Monaco of the Middle East.

http://urbanpeek.com/2012/03/09/the-worlds-top-10-richest-countries-in-2012/

 

Jeremy Schaap did a nice E:60 piece on this subject as well. With the exit-visa rules, it's akin to a modern day slavery/concentration camp situation.

 

Also, these massive stadiums are basically not going to be used after 2022. They are all being built within a small radius and there is not going to be a need for them after the tournament. Their domestic league currently averages about 5,000 people a game (a little more than 25% of the average MLS crowd).

 

Roger Goodell thinks the "Qatar Jaguars" and the prospect of playing in a new stadium every week sounds neat.

 

One of my best friends is a press secretary for a Congressman. He got to go on an all-expenses paid junket to Qatar last November and has gotten to be friends with a Qatari official who lives in DC. He said Qatar is the strangest place in the world.

For example, the number of actual Qataris is very small, something like 10 percent of the total population. The rest are all foreign workers. The Qatari official was asked if they ever worry the workers will rise up and take control and he said "Yes, all the time."

The Qatari official also spoke of what a culture shock it was moving to DC. My friend thought he was talking about moving so far from home to a completely different culture. The official said it was more than that, because he wasn't used to not having servants doing everything for me. He'd never made his own bed. Never bought his own groceries.

After visiting, my buddy is convinced the World Cup there will be a huge disaster. But, hey, FIFA got the cash and that's all that matters.

 

Well, they should fit in just fine. Since Qatar has all that money, what's all the fuss about?

 

I'm no economist but if everyone's rich, isn't nobody rich?

 

How feasable will joint bids be in the future, much like the forced marriage between S. Korea and Japan? I could see, say, some European nations combining for a bid.

 

FIFA has come out and publicly said it is against joint bids, which -- given its track record of consistency -- means sweet Fanny Adams. Still, given the looming disaster that will be Euro 2020 and that they'd have to hand out two automatic bids, I imagine they'd prefer a single host.

And as to Inky's post, that all sounds awfully familiar. Just swap out Qatari for Emirati.