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Tuesday Kickoff: Australia demands compensation from FIFA; Inter sanctioned; and more

FrankLowyAustralia1 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

While much of the consensus around FIFA seems to point to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar being moved to the winter, Australia has gone public to demand that if the tournament is moved to the winter, they should be heavily compensated for the potential costs.

The Football Federation of Australia (FFA), who were among the nations bidding for a World Cup in 2022 but lost in the first round of voting, believe that a vote to move the World Cup to the winter should be delayed until the FIFA Executive Committee discusses the consequences of such a move to leagues around the world.

In addition, FFA chairman Frank Lowy believes that Australia and the other nations that bid for a summer World Cup should be compensated for money lost by moving the tournament to a time when it’s either unfeasible or in competition with other sports and can’t gain as strong a foothold in the market.

“If the World Cup were to be staged in the middle of our A-League season it would impact on our competition, not just for 2022, but for the seasons leading up to and beyond that date,” Lowy said in a statement. “Clubs, investors, broadcasters, players and fans would all be affected.”

Qatar won the 2022 World Cup over bids from Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

Here are some more stories to get your Tuesday started:

INTER FINED AND SANCTIONED FOR FAN RACISM

Three days after their 1-1 draw against Juventus, Inter Milan have been handed a fine and partial closure to the San Siro due to racist chanting from their fans.

According to reports in Italy, the Inter ultras chanted racist abuse towards Juventus players Paul Pogba and Kwadwo Asamoah, and the sporting court in Italy announced that the ultra’s section in the San Siro will be closed for the side’s next home game, against Fiorentina on September 26.

In addition, the club were fined €15,000 for the chants, and were fined another €15,000 for fans using lasers to distract the Juventus players and coaching staff.

SWANSEA COME BACK TO DRAW LIVERPOOL

Facing his former club for the first time since moving to the Liberty Stadium this summer, Jonjo Shelvey wound up having a part in all four goals of a 2-2 draw between Swansea and Liverpool.

The Swansea midfielder needed less than 90 seconds to score his only goal of the night, single-handedly going past two defenders before supplying a cool left-footed finish to give the Welsh side the lead. However, barely 90 seconds later, Shelvey gift-wrapped a goal for Liverpool, passing the ball back to Daniel Sturridge, who couldn’t miss in front of goal.

In the 36th minute, Shelvey again sent a pass that went straight to Liverpool loan signing Victor Moses, who dribbled forward and scored an accurate shot into the corner to give the Merseyside club the lead. However, in the 64th minute, the former England youth international Shelvey made amends for his error with a brilliant flick header to teammate Michu, who finished calmly to tie the scoreline.

ROMA CONTINUE FINE EARLY SEASON FORM

The transition to playing under their third coach in 12 months seems to be going better than expected.

Since joining the club this summer, Rudi Garcia has put his side joint-top of the Serie A table with Napoli after scoring three second-half goals in their comeback 3-1 victory on Monday night against Parma.

Jonathan Biabiany scored a fine header at the near post to give Parma the lead in the 39th minute, but a terrific strike by Alessandro Florenzi two minutes after halftime break put Roma level. In the 70th minute, Francesco Totti beat the offside trap and collected a chip from new Roma signing Kevin Strootman, finishing easily to give the visitors the lead. Strootman finished off the match five minutes from time with a penalty kick goal to make it 3-1 to Roma.

QUICK KICKS

UEFA President Michel Platini has said he’ll wait until during or after the 2014 FIFA World Cup to decide whether he will run for the FIFA presidency. (REPORT)

Hamburg have sacked their coach Thorsten Fink following a poor start in the Bundesliga. (REPORT)

In an interview with French publication L’Equipe, Carlo Ancelotti admitted that he was ready to leave Paris Saint-Germain last March, regardless if he got the Real Madrid job. (REPORT)

Borussia Dortmund will be without their captain Sebastian Kehl for up to six weeks. (REPORT)

Liverpool’s Daniel Agger suffered an injury when trying to get out of way of a falling dumbbell. (REPORT)

Tunisia have hired Dutch coach Ruud Krol for their two playoff matches for a World Cup place against Cameroon. (REPORT)

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What do you think of this news? Do you see Australia demanding legal action of the WC is moved to winter? Do you see Shelvey being dropped from his next match? Do you feel the sanctions on Inter weren’t harsh enough?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. This is really quite simple. I own a landscaping business. If I were to bid on and win a large contract based on promises I cannot possibly follow through on, I lose that bid and open myself up to possible legal issues from the contracting agency. Qatar made a bid and many promises. They cannot fulfill their end of the contract so the bid is reopened. At least, that’s how it works in the real world.

    Reply
    • That’s the problem. That’s how it works in the real world, these guys don’t live in reality. But that’s mostly our fault, as they’re never held accountable by anybody.

      Reply
      • Reality is about to bite FIFA in the ass. Many people wrongfully assume that this will cause a mere one or two month disruption. Consider the confederations cup, WC qualification, champions league, champions league qualification, the euros, euro qualification, broadcasting and ad sales, contract renegotiations, transfer windows, etc. etc.. To my first point, a bid sold under false pretenses is no longer a valid bid. Under any law, FIFA’s only recourse is to reopen the bid.

        FIFA, however, will have a tough time dealing with Qatar’s considerable financial might. Consider their investment in world soccer the past few years. Bein sport, PSG, Man City, Barca sponsorship etc. etc.. Qatar has done much to solidify it’s place in world soccer. All sides have much invested and much to lose. Qatar will do all it can to keep it’s ill gotten prize, and FIFA will fight tooth and nail to hide how WC 2022 was awarded. Something has to give in this and the only question is who will blink first?

        UEFA and it’s members have more to lose financially, so I see them (and the English FA especially) standing strong for as long as possible. Platini just said he won’t consider a bid on the presidency until after 2014. He’s hedging his bet until things become more clear. This, more than any corruption or wrongdoing, will become Blatter’s legacy.

        There will be a bunch of hemming and hawing at the October FIFA meeting, yet nothing will be decided. FIFA realizes that they are potentially in a contractual breach with their member organizations which they are obliged to support. USA would be wise to stand back and let the eventual legal process run it’s course. As much as we all dislike Gulati, he is playing a wise long-game here.

        Qatar 2022, with all it’s flaws, will either take place in the summer of 2022 or not at all.

      • I don’t think the WC will be played in the Summer 2022 in Qatar. I don’t know what else will need to happen but unless every stadium is truly air conditioned and has closed roofs, I just can’t imagine the tournament being played in 110 F temps. Maybe the games will be at night? like 10 pm or later?

        what a goofy scenario.

      • Qatar was smart and paid all the potential fines upfront before the bidding process…in small, unmarked, non-sequential, bills paced in briefcases and left behind in the offices of FIFA Committee members.

  2. BOTTOMLINE is that if FIFA decides to keep it in Qatar and I believe they will. Everything and Everyone else will fall in line. PERIOD. Australia threatening to sue is a JOKE, for what? They gambled on trying to get it like a few other countries and lost. Get over it. There’s no reason why this can’t work with the amount of time and resources they have to make it a go. TV ratings low? PUHLEASE!!!! This is World Cup, Footy fans will do the usual and plan their schedule around it to watch. Heck, if anything, the NFL could get a rude awakening but neither are competing against one another. Most Soccer fans are also American Football fans and you better believe they’ll make it a point to watch both. If you’ve spent a few hours on a weekend watching clubs from a league then this will not be that much different except for an entire month. Crap games get low ratings anyway and that’s not changing anytime soon. Big Games will continue to get GREAT ratings. It’s about time a Middle Eastern Country had a chance to host the tourney. Although, not a Middle Eastern country, I would have liked to seen Turkey host it seeing how it’s the only country bridging two continents and the have the infrastructure to host it.

    Stop with the Bribes and money crap. It’s happened for who knows how long with damn nearly every country who’s hosted the event in the modern era. You pay to play and if you think European countries don’t pay to play then see me about a buying a Bridge in Brooklyn and some Unicorns, I’ll give you a good deal.

    If you plan on being there, then it’s never too early to start planning, now is it?
    I’m more concerned about next summer’s World Cup and making that trip.

    Reply
    • I know, right?

      How dare that country be furious that they spent so much money bidding on a summer world cup and the winner couldn’t deliver what they promised so instead they change all the circumstances.

      There is a legal word for that–fraud.

      Reply
    • It’s not the viewer that will turn away from a winter World Cup. It’s the networks.

      I don’t think you quite understand how big the NFL is in the US. For the period 2014 to 2022, NBC, CBS, FOX, and ESPN will pay a combined $39.6 Billion for NFL broadcasts. A winter WC would fall right in the middle of the most valuable of all of those games: the NFL playoffs. Considering that the Finals are always on a Sunday during European prime time, it extremely likely that the Final of a Jan-Feb WC would end up against an NFL playoff game(CBS, NBC, FOX), possibly even up against the Super Bowl (on CBS, if the current rotation holds). That alone would very much erode the value of FOX’s investment, possibly to the point where the would no longer be interested. Never mind that a number of group and knockout stage matches would also be up against, or possibly in direct conflict with NFL wild card, divisional, and conference round games.

      If FIFA does chose to move to a winter WC, FIFA will be sending a massive truckload of money to Rupert Murdoch’s doorstep.

      Reply
      • Absolutely correct Mason and you didn’t even mention NCAA football/basketball, NBA and NHL. All of that will cut into World Cup viewership and subsequent TV rights/contracts for all of the sports involved. I’m only referring to here in the USA.

        I don’t know what dream world AI17 thinks he’s in to, somehow, believe the US TV viewership of the World Cup wouldn’t be affected. He’s simply wrong.

      • NCAA football is mostly over by the Jan-Feb period I was considering. Sure, there’s a few Eastern Motors Federal Credit Union-type bowls still on the calendar, but no one actually watches those. NBA/NCAABB/NHL are a different story, however.

  3. “Liverpool’s Daniel Agger suffered an injury when trying to get out of way of a falling dumbbell. ”

    I guess Suarez is back in training…

    Reply
  4. I don’t care if it takes 9 years to hash out whether the 2022 WC is going to be in the (northern hemisphere) winter or stay in the summer. The billions of dollars that will be lost in TV viewership here in the USA because of the competition of the NFL, NCAA, NBA, NHL would be staggering!!

    Reply
    • I would think that the Companies that bought TV rights have grounds for a lawsuit. Since the amount of money the bid was based on them showing the games in the summer.

      Reply
  5. I remeber sneaking into the receiving area at work where I could log on and watch the WC draw – and was so devastated when the US lost to Qatar (who??). I’m getting old and hope to make a WC game (was hoping for England in 2018 – I could make that).

    Looks like this is all coming apart. 1st move to winter, then networks saying ‘refund’, now Australia saying ‘refund’.

    Hope this is way that FIFA, now that they have Qatar $$, can sneak out of a horrible decision.

    Just in case sanity (or covering their rears) takes over FIFA think I’ll start saving money in case I can make the WC in 2022 in ether US or Austraila (visited Australia – great country and people).

    Reply
    • Nah, the selling point for Qatar to be awarded the WC were the giant bribes they paid the voters. Can’t disagree with your last point though. But, I’m guessing everyone at FIFA knew there were significant problems with the plan, but why not enjoy their millions now and deal with all the problems later!

      Reply
  6. the racism situation in Italy is just ridiculous. how many seat cushion fines does a team get before a real punishment is doled out? An empty section? 15,000 euros? Close the stadium for a game, and for another game every time this happens.

    Change only happens when the involved parties want it to. Evidently, the Italian Soccer Fed is A-OK with racism.

    Reply
  7. It’s the WORLD Cup, not the European/Australian Cup. For 150 years, we’ve been going with a Eurocentric calendar. The United States (MLS) plays in the summer and Brazil plays in the Summer. I’ve never heard them really complain (aside from NFL arguments, but wtf cares because by 2022 MLS will be on par with the rest of the major American leagues by then).

    It’s time for Europe to realize they don’t have all the football power in the world, and they should just accept the fact of a winter World Cup for the health and safety of the athletes and spectators. Enough of this bull**** already.

    Reply
    • I agree that it’s a WORLD cup but you can’t accept billions for the broadcasting rights from all over the world and then decide later to change without legal ramifications.

      Reply
      • Qatar is 9 years away. There is plenty of time to plan. I would rather not worry about television ratings and acknowledge the health and safety of athletes and spectators. Qatar gets up to 130F during the summer.

      • Well that’s pretty easy to say considering that you didn’t pay hundreds of millions for the rights to show the World Cup.

      • Ah, good point. So you should definitely tell the EXCOM and Qatar not to accept or bid for Summer WCF in a super hot desert location! All cleared up! Wait, you said they did, and they did? Hmmm.. frownies 🙁

      • ummm…I think the issues of health and safety were acknowledged by FIFA and they didn’t really seem to care (Hey, Air-conditioned stadiums!! Yeah!!!) Otherwise, they wouldn’t have awarded it to Qatar in the first place. Also, the players really can’t challenge this in a court…unlike these broadcasting corporations can.

        The issue with broadcasting is that something was sold and false pretenses. If I sold you a car that had a two year warranty and then I called you after you bought that car and said, “Sorry, it’s just going to be a one-year warranty” that wouldn’t fly.

        I know that’s not a perfect analogy but it is essentially what’s happened.

    • Um, what?

      First of all–Europe DOES have all the power in the soccer world. It is the center of the sport.

      Why does Europe have to accept anything when the people who awarded the World Cup to Qatar took outrageous bribes–foregoing the safety of the players–to award the World Cup when it couldn’t happen? Seriously.

      And really? Who cares if World Cup games are played during the NFL season?

      You have ABSOLUTELY no idea what you are talking about.

      Reply
      • I, for one, will not make any personal attacks against you, so maybe you should limit that yourself by not saying I don’t know what I’m talking about.

        1. Europe needs to start realizing that its days of owning the football world are numbered. African, Asian, and North American markets are emerging and will give UEFA some pause for concern.

        2. Check an article by World Soccer Talk written yestetday. Fox Sports officially put out a statement saying they oppose a 2022 Winter World Cup for Qatar. Their reasoning is that NFL and college football will steal ratings away (and screw up their winter schedule). So maybe you should READ something before you accuse someone that they “have ABSOLUTELY no idea what you are talking about.”

      • Wait, I’m confused. I agree with you about FOX.

        They may be emerging markets, but they wield no power in the grand scheme of things, especially since the UCL and EuroCup are becoming more popular than the World Cup.

      • If WC 2022 in Qatar goes ahead, UEFA clubs will revolt and may refuse to release their players. It is also entirely possible they would organize their own summer tournament to compete in place of the World Cup. Other sports have had federation splits over the last few decades. There is nothing to prevent soccer from experiencing the same.

    • This isn’t about a european calendar, or euro centric thinking, it’s about the games being awared unfairly and disrupting the entire soccer world because FIFA wants to cover up their huge, huge mistake. If Qatar put together a bid, and can’t meet the expectations, then the games should be moved to a different geographical location, not moved to a different time of the year that will affect EVERY league in the world.

      The world cup has been held in the summer since the 1930’s I believe. It shouldn’t change for some sand blown country in the middle of the desert thats smaller than Connecticut.

      And the reason Brazil and the US don’t complain about Summer World Cups? Tradition.

      Reply
      • Technically, wouldn’t that first world cup have been a winter world cup? Just like the last one too. You’re northern hemispherocentric by stating it always happens in summer.
        /sarcasm
        /but really, Qatar needs to get it together or lose it.

      • And why did they decide to have the first few WC’s in the summer? Because the prominent leagues in the world had ended for the season and players were still in game shape & form. I guess FIFA now thinks that common-sense reasoning is outdated.

    • But if you look at it as not a level playing field, then pretty much all the countries bidding wasted money on the possibility of an event that was never going to happen (a summer world cup). Winter would have been at odds with our climate (north) and football stadiums in the south.
      I don’t know about AFL or rugby schedule in Australia if that is at odds or not.

      If FIFA had the possibility of a winter world cup stated during the bidding then there wouldn’t be much for the other countries bidding to argue about, but they didn’t. It still doesn’t solve FIFAs problem with the European calendar, but a reimbursement to US, Australia, South Korea & Japan for money spent on the findings and presentation of the bid would do a decent job at mending fences.

      Reply
      • It’s not once. You’d need to completely cancel one and significantly alter at least two other seasons. That’s the minimum.

      • yes it’s not a one year thing. It would effectively alter the schedules for three, possibly four years. You would have to change the confederations cup too and that then effects the calandars of the qualifying competitions. It also will alter the schedule of many pro leagues and would effect TV deals and advertising.

        They will not move it to the winter. Period. The WC needs to be moved and if anyone is reimbursed, it’s Qatar – for their bribes.

    • The bid was for the summer for 2022 and not the winter of 2022. Frankly, FIFA will face legal actions from Qatar if the WC is moved to another country (doubt they will be successful) or they will face numerous lawsuits from any country, league or confederation that feels slighted (likely to be successful). Hell the Italian mafia and Vegas bookies may take their own kind of action.

      United States and USSF is not going to pressure Qatar or FIFA. The US and Qatar are allies on a much broader scale (military and financially) and the US cannot afford to lose that alliance. I am sure Gulati has already been briefed by federal officials. Though politics should not be involved, it always is.

      Reply
      • You’re right. They did bid for a summer. And I am not at all defending a summer World Cup in the Middle East. It was wrong for FIFA to do so. And I hope there is some legal ramifications against FIFA. That would be great. I just think this is political bull**** and different confederations flexing their muscles and want something to fight about.

    • Qatar’s bid was predicated upon them being able to deliver some pie-in-the-sky weather enhancement systems, like cloud cooling and air conditioners that could cool stadiums to below 80 degrees even at the height of summer.

      They bid on a SUMMER World Cup. They apparently cannot deliver what they promised during the bidding process. There are also widespread allocations of corruption and bribery and their president was banned from FIFA.

      No way this flies. The European leagues – still by far and away the driving force in International football – aren’t going to stand for the disruption of their leagues. And why should they? This isn’t what was bid upon. This wasn’t what was agreed upon.

      There is absolutely nothing whatsoever stopping the European countries and the likes of USA, Japan, Australia, etc. from just breaking with FIFA and staging their own event in the summer…and if FIFA keeps pushing this farce, that is exactly what will happen. When FIFA stops serving the interests of its constituent federations (which it isn’t!), that’s kind of inevitable…the arrogance FIFA is showing here is pretty mind-boggling and it’s going to end their organization.

      Reply
  8. Even if you accept Blatter’s line justifying a winter WC in Qatar — “We have to spread the finals around and we can no longer assume that Europe and South America’s interests control” — it’s all so incredibly corrut because FIFA is changing the rules after the fact. That’s the textbook definition of unfairness and arbitrariness.

    Reply
    • exactly. i think the world could have been convinced on changing the time of year of the WC.. (the Brazil Olympics will be in August)… But not AFTER the whole bidding process was cheated and proved to be a farce.

      if they keep the WC in Qatar; USA, South Korea, Australia, Japan deserve their money back.

      Reply
    • They love doing that. Brazil and South Africa one the rights to their world cups in votes which were limited to their regions (Brazil running unopposed even), then when it should have been CONCACAF’s turn, they decide that they’ve finished the rotational system before they finished a single cycle.

      Reply
  9. Another thing that should be concerning is that FOX, which has the broadcast rights to the cup that year, has some programming on sundays that is fairly popular called the nfl. The conflict could cause sponsor problems here as well. This whole thing is a cluster-eff.

    Reply
      • Fox, who is so dedicated to American soccer they dropped FSC and lost their EPL rights. What are they planning to air instead? Being Liverpool reruns?

      • NBC’s bid for the EPL was exponentially higherthan Fox’s, and historically unsupported by past viewership. Fox had a competitive bid based on actual data that was blown out of the water by NBC’s hope for future viewership.

        I think that FOX’s bid for WC rights for North America is still one of the highest in terms of compensation to FIFA. Let’s not forget that FIFA was sued and lost a lawsuit in damages to a past sponsor (I think it was MasterCard) for what the judge declared to be unfair play in the economic field.

        I think that the old boys at the Ex-Co have potentially stepped in it this time around

      • Sell the rights to who? They’re useless. That’s the entire point. No network is paying for those rights knowing off the bat that the target market will be doing something else.

      • Possibly, but they are limited by almost no provider availability. They have no market penetration. They could never make that buy feasible from a financial standpoint. They would be buying it at such an incredible loss it could possibly bankrupt the company (i say possibly because i doubt they have hundreds of millions to blow for purely ideological purposes).

        Unless of course dump trucks of money arrived at the headquarters from an anonymous desert friend 😀

      • they are actually available on most providers. 44 out of 49 million cable subscribers have the channel (AT&T UVerse just added it, leaving Cox as the sole provider without it, 4.5M subscribers). whether they pay for it, that’s another story. beIN will have to change their business model or face the same fate as FSC and Setanta Sports USA.

        and yes, i think they would make a huge push for the rights if Fox got rid of them…assuming this entire thing played out for a winter event.

      • with their 3 million subscribers (7th largest), yes, it’s certainly a provider beIN will likely target. #8, Bright House, does provide beIN Sport though.

        Cox, Charter, Cablevision, Suddenlink, and Mediacom are in the Top 10 providers who do not offer beIN Sport. so 5 do, 5 don’t. but the 5 that do have a lot more subscribers.

  10. I’m all for sticking it to FIFA, but that’s a pretty asinine argument for the Aussies to make. The A-League is one of many football leagues that play through winter, obviously. The only thing that sets them apart is that they bid for the WC and lost. So it smacks of sour grapes just a bit.

    Imagine if US Soccer demanded compensation for every summer world cup…

    Reply
    • It’s certainly a financially viable argument Ian. Our (and Qatar’s) northern hemisphere winter is Australia’s A-League SUMMER….I hate it because I don’t want to see ANY northern hemisphere winter World Cup here in the USA competing with the NFL, NCAA football/basketball, NBA, and NHL vice only MLB (surely MLS can work things out in WC years). It’s simply silly!…..Oh, and Brazil 2014 is also the winter for them

      Reply
      • Except Australia joined Asia to play against countries like Bahrain, and in fact many of its players go to the middle east to cash in because of its proximity. So the league gets its feathers ruffled once — with plenty of time to prepare — but they save money on travel to a local tournament, relatively speaking.

        FWIW, Bahrain may be so near the equator it’s immaterial and so we’re playing in “winter,” but the season being interrupted in Australia is actually a summer season, like ours. It only looks like a traditional season because their seasons are flipped and thus it superficially matches a school year season. But they take their winter off and play in the warm months. I doubt players would complain much if hot Australia was forced to start early or end late. They might complain about it impacting their offseason loans, but that’s a different kettle of fish.

    • I should have been more accurate. Australia is only one of many countries that plays soccer through December, January and February, regardless of its geographic orientation to the sun during those months.

      Reply
      • Fair enough Ian and my argument is, perhaps, on the wrong forum. As an American, I don’t want to see ANY World Cup wherever it is in the world to run during a Dec, Jan, Feb time frame thus in competition with the NFL, NCAA, NBA and NHL seasons. It’s far easier to compete with baseball if you’re a soccer fan….;^)

  11. And so it begins.

    As I laid out a week ago on a similar article–the lost money from moving the World Cup to the winter will be in the trillions across the globe.

    This World Cup will never happen in Qatar. Never.

    Reply
      • I actually thought about the amount to use before I said it. I think–give rough estimates–that it would be in the trillions across the board.

        Think about it. What would need to change?

        A minimum of 3 seasons would have to be either cancelled or significantly altered. Assuming an average of 20 teams in a division, and every country having at least 3 divisions you are talking about the scope of several 1000 teams that will be affected by the following.

        TV contracts
        Broadcasting costs
        Sponsorships (apparel, individual players, event, stadium, kit)
        Season ticket revenue
        Gate revenue
        Concessions revenue
        Off-season event revenue (concerts)
        The 100s of thousands to millions of people who work those stadiums across the globe lose that revenue, which would be devastating to the local economies.
        Costs associated with logistical changes of having to schedule several full divisions in every country at a completely different time (enormous).
        Costs associated with investor loss (which would be enormous as many major clubs offer stock)

        UCL–the second most watched sporting event on the planet–would be done for at least 3 seasons. Hundred million a year gone–easily.

        EuroCup would either me moved or be gone. 100s of millions gone there.

        Official FIFA dates would be done-away with. Small confederations would go bankrupt with no revenue.

        Then we can talk about conflicts with existing sports…

        The matches would conflict with the NFL, NBA, college basketball and college football. Goodbye American market.

        FOX would almost certainly cancel their contract (500 million alone) to broadcast the English language rights. Telemundo might keep the Spanish language rights, but who knows how much demographic overlap there would be.

        Even more abstractly–think of the lost revenue for clubs in jersey sales, gates and fan support that always come following a major event.

        Soccer is teetering on “major sport” status in America. A World Cup during the NFL/NCAAF/NCAAB seasons would be devastating for the general growth of the sport.

      • Why 3 seasons? Wouldn’t most leagues either just take a month break and adjust their calendars, perhaps shortening them, or play through and teams with WC players would just do without?

        I’m by no means in favor of a winter WC in Qatar.

        I do think the U.S., Australia, and other bidders do have a case to be recompensated for the millions spent on developing bids when they supposedly were all competing for a summer World Cup.

        Lastly, Qatar also bid based on building all these fancy stadiums with uninvented high tech cooling systems. Now they can just build any old regular stadiums (winter high is 75) also outside of the scope of their bid that we were competing against.

      • It’s not just a month. It’s about 2 months in total.

        Teams generally arrive a week to two weeks ahead of the World Cup and take several weeks to recover afterward.

        And think about how that would work for big leagues?

        Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City–these teams would have maybe 3 or 4 players left on their entire squad.

        Barcelona and Madrid would have 0 players left. Okay, maybe Bale would still be there since Wales is never doing anything.

        For South Africa the US Soccer team trained before the World Cup and arrived May 31st. The World Cup didn’t even start until June 11th and their first match was June 12th.

      • They are way, way more than a billion each.

        The English language rights for the broadcast in America alone–just English in the USA borders–is 500 million.

        Telemundo paid 600 million for Spanish rights.

        The 2011-2012 revenue of just the first division in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain was 12.6 billion dollars.

        12.6 billion for JUST the top flight and just those 5 leagues for one year.

        The annual revenue of the Champions League is 1.73 billion.

        The Euro Cup 2012 revenue was 1.7 billion.

        These are simply the reported direct revenues from ticket sales and the purchasing of the right to broadcast. Then you’d have lost revenue from advertisement space sold for these competitions–which is also in the billions.

        And then the billions that are brought into the local economies for these events–which is not reported in those figures.

      • Okay dude, you’re still about 950 billion short of a trillion (much less TRILLIONS) by ANY stretch of the imagination.

        Yes, the annual revenue for those leagues is $12.6 billion … and guess what… they’re still going to make 90% of that… even with a disruption/alteration of the schedule. And the broadcast rights for the lower leagues could maybe reach a billion… cumulatively.

        This world cup could possibly have an effect on 3 seasons, but they aren’t getting canceled, they’d be altered.

        Products will still be sold, advertisements will still happen.

      • But you incorrectly assume all revenue would be lost if the WC ran in winter. It obviously wouldn’t. It would be diminished, but not to the tune of “trillions” of dollars.

        At any rate, I’m on your side. I think the WC should just be given to a different country and ran during the northern hemisphere’s summer, per tradition. Why fix what ain’t broke?

      • You’ve turned me around on this. Some of these things could be worked around, maybe even most of them.

        But the work and money lost to fix these things, compared to the relatively minor step of taking the world cup from Qatar (considering they almost surely can’t supply what they promised in their bid it should be easier) should make this an easy decision.

      • It’s an easy decision, unless it is made by someone who was bribed by Qatar. Does FIFA brass want to risk exposure if Qatar starts spilling the names and the amounts paid?

      • it’s a good list, but your number is entirely too hire. a TRILLION is a ridiculous amount of money. and just because it moves to the winter, they aren’t losing ALL of the revenue. sure, there will be a loss in revenue, but it’s not like they won’t get nothing.

        the economic impact would be huge, no doubt. but i think you are exaggerating if you really think a trillion dollars will be lost. either way, Qatar shouldn’t have the World Cup.

    • You’re underestimating the “UN-worthy” populist forces that made this Cup happen in the first place. Bahrain lined up all the little countries with votes behind its bid. It will take more than a little inconvenience to reverse that.

      Reply
    • Yup. If you listen carefully you can hear two sounds:

      1. Lawyers around the world reading contracts and preparing legal measures demanding compensation for the lost revenue

      2. Qatar filling up dump trucks with money to send to FIFA to indemnify them for potential losses.

      All the WC contracts are between FIFA and its partner companies. That is where this will fall apart. The Fox example is a big one. What happens in November 2022 when the NFL and WC want to broadcast at the same time? That is NOT what they paid millions of dollars for.

      Multiply this scenario by hundreds and that is what is staring FIFA in the face.

      Reply
      • Spot on.

        Maybe smaller networks in 3rd world countries might capitulate, but I think we agree that Fox would say–oh yeah FIFA? Well here’s our 50-strong team of $1000/hour attorneys. Enjoy.

  12. It is a bit ironic that Inter Milan is having trouble with racisim considering they were founded because AC Milan would only let Italians play, so Inter was started as an internationally inclusive club.

    Reply
    • well, you could play for AC Milan and be black so long as you were Italian. not saying they don’t have a history with racist fan behavior, i honestly don’t know much about them. but the analogy you gave seems to be blending race and nationality.

      Reply
  13. Interesting angle by the Australians. Gulati could argue that the US never would have bid for a winter World Cup due to weather and competition with the NFL for stadium use. Not sure it’ll hold up anyway, and he probably wouldn’t want to ruffle feathers this early in his tenure in the inner circle, but it would be neat to see the other bidders try to turn the screw on FIFA.

    Reply
      • Gulati has already come out and said that he doesn’t support a vote now because the economic implications have not been clearly laid out. Gulati’s an economics professor – he knows what he is talking about.

      • And given he’s the rookie on ExCo, that’s about the only political answer he can give without turning himself into a martyr without a cause.

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