March 18th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
It's not my hostility. Outside of the US, I'm not going to the WC regardless of where it is.
My brother-in-law, who makes his living selling tickets primarily for the WC, has already heard from many of his major clients that they will be skipping Qatar. There are a lot of people who aren't big on travelling to Muslim nations, regardless of whether or not that's founded on fact.
Terrorism is something that scares people at any major event. Without crossing any lines here, hosting the event in the Middle East certainly doesn't quell those fears.
Have you been in the summer? I heard it gets to around 120. That is pretty hostile level of heat if you ask me.
Now Qatar wants to move the WC to the winter.
120 is a cool day.
But I've heard it's almost certain at this point it will be moved to the winter because otherwise people will die. Qatar put in their bid that they had a system to cool the stadiums, and now they're all like, "You guys believed that? No, we can't cool down an entire stadium." Qatar wants December, but because most of the world celebrates Christmas, it will likely be November.
March 19th, 2014 at 12:26 AM ^
I think they said they will be able to build some kind of floating/suspended AC unit to cool the entire stadium?
Silly Qatar not thinking about Thanksgiving and The Game.
March 18th, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^
The current structure rewards building rather than effective usage of existing infrastructure
The current structure rewards bribery rather than effective usage of existing infrastructure
Fixed it.
March 18th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
Exactly. There are lots of countries that need to build nothing or next to nothing to host a WC. But that's not even the key thing. The reality of it is, there are many countries that makes sense as the host for the WC. Countries that are safe, that people from other parts of the world are willing to travel to. There was a pretty solid streak there for a while - France, US, Japan/South Korea, Germany. Those are all good spots. Why they've had to start dipping into shady countries is stupid, and is very obviously bribery.
March 18th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Just another reason why we should do away with soccer as a sport.
March 18th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
Widespread steroid use: That's why we should do away with baseball/track and field (and other olympic sports) as a sport.
Concussions etc: That's why we should do away with football as a sport.
Need I go on?
March 18th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
Yeah, but people actually like those other sports.
March 18th, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
March 18th, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
Yeah, but again, who cares.
March 18th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
About 80% of the planet.
There are arguments against soccer. Popuarity is not one of them.
March 18th, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
March 18th, 2014 at 10:52 AM ^
March 18th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
March 18th, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
You mean the bid to host the World Cup in beautiful, temperate Qatar didn't succeed on its own merits?
March 18th, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
Yes. Yes, I do.
March 18th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
If this is true, then remove the 2022 WC from Qatar. Simple. There are a bunch of countries that can put on the show with relatively little notice (less than a decade).
March 18th, 2014 at 12:16 PM ^
You're assuming that FIFA's going to be ashamed of this...
March 18th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^
March 18th, 2014 at 12:16 PM ^
I don't understand why the World's most powerful and influential soccer nations put up with it. Who annointed FIFA as eternal dictator of international Soccer?
It would only take four countries to get fed up and break away to collapse FIFA: Brazil and Argentina from South America, and Germany and Italy from Europe. England and the United States, at minimum, would immediatly follow . . . they can not stand FIFA. At least a dozen more middle-tier Soccer countries would join in. A World Cup without these countries would be pointless.
The only question is which corrupt, incompetent, tyrannical organization will be thrown off first - FIFA, the IOC, or the NCAA?
March 18th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
But lets say those countries leave FIFA and start their own organization. What it keeping that from not becoming just as corrupt? As long as there is a WC-like tournament that generates crazy money and interest, there will be the Qatars of the world paying somebody off to get it in their country. This new organization will be succeptible to the same corruption, unfortunately.
I feel like I have fairly high moral sanding, but if someone paid me $10 million, I might become corrupt too.
I'll take my chances.
The NCAA is bad, but they look practically benevolent compared to FIFA. FIFA practically celebrates the fact that they are a bunch of mafia thugs.
March 18th, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^
They are building roads underneath roads to make this happen. If they lose this bid they will lose their shirts on improving Doha. They'll have their oil money for sure, but it'll be a significant loss of money with no return.