Pre-match: 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup Host Selection - December 2

of course! cuz, you know, the neighbor desert next to the host desert makes the overall climate much much cooler....

 

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/qatar-eyes-90-000-hotel-rooms-by-2022-365519.html

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/no-white-elephants-here-366516.html

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/22-qatar-2022-world-cup-facts-for-contractors-366425.html?page=1

 

SFS,

I am sure you believe all of this.

What Qatar is doing is a tremendous challenge. If you believe for a moment that there are not some security and social issues, then you are living in a complete fantasy world.

Who is going to build all of this and don't you think there are some real human rights issues? How does a country of less than 2 million build all this infrastructure without the use of slave labor. Of course, you will continue to post about how great the Qatar bid is just to aggravate US supporters. It is a sad indictment that you have to resort to such childish behavior. I don't know what the US did to you but it obviously must have heart. My only guess is you went down to Bradenton to coach and the FED told you to get lost.

Newsflash-Russia still did not make the world cup this year and Donovan scored 3 goals. Knowing how you posted about the greatness of Russia and the shortcomings of Donovan, this always makes me smile.

 

“Not everyone can afford a five-star hotel,” the industry official added.


Most brilliant observation of 2010.

 

Security issues will be regardless.

Social issues won't be bothering Qataris too much. theirs is not a democracy and they're fine with that.

From what I understand the speed train will be built by the Germans and the gas pipeline by the Russians.

Some of the other major European companies will be rounding off the list in building and managing the infrastructure. Qatar usually subs these contracts out but also imports the managers from Europe and the US.

They don't use slave labor.

They use contract labor.

The white color jobs are either local or European/Qatari co-run/co-owned. The blue color jobs are imported from the much poorer Asian regions but are also on contracts. The companies that will build the country are large industrial concerns with earned reputation. Whatever goes on with the smaller, closely held businesses isn't likely to be repeated on a wide scale.

Well, the Qatar bid is likely to have the most astounding stadiums along with the most luxurious of accommodations, all in close proximity to one another for a fan to visit any game for which the tickets are available.

Transportation and night entertainment are also likely to be top tier in a very low risk environment.

The US simply can not match this. The distances to and fro are huge, the stadiums vary in age and quality, the night life is wildly inconsistent from location to location, the public transportation aside 2-3 cities is largely non-existent, temperatures can vary from excruciatingly hot to very brisk and the street crime levels are high.

Plus, take out an occasional Mexican match, and the soccer following is general is rather weak. The WC is an event in the US, albeit well attended, but there's no consistent interest in the sport. The US Men can play to 80,000 vs. Argentina or Brazil and then to 12,000 vs. Colombia. And that means that people come to see Argentina and Brazil and not the US Men.

The American soccer scene has a hard-core following but it's not a major sport in the US.

Now, if Qatar snags the World Series or the Superbowl, then worry.

People here are Amerocentric. They view the rest of the world from the outside. The rest of the world views America in much the same way. Aside of Gulati and Bubba, no one cares that the US lost the bid. It was never the center of global soccer universe that the American fans think it was. If it were named Canada, the world wide reaction would be pretty much the same.

Yes, I am so pro-Russian, I consider Russia being given the 2018 hosting rights to be a much greater travesty than the US losing it.

Russia has no infrastructure, no stadiums, rampant street crime, a horribly corrupt regime and destitute periphery (i.e., cities outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg) for anyone to even want to go there.

Other than that, hip-hip, hooray.

 

Well my two biggest concerns about Qatar's WC 2022 bid have always been:
a) The weather in the summer and
b) The fact that Qatar are going at this alone.

I always thought a co-hosted tournament between Qatar and neighboring United Arab Emirates, held in the winter months of January or February would be an ideal scenario for a first ever Middle East world cup. I was really surprised it was never considered to co-host the tournament with the UAE, who have several developed urban areas as opposed to Qatar which is essentially a city-state with a couple of surrounding coastal settlements. But it's strange that they are considering this now - after it's already been awarded. They might have neighboring island nation Bahrain in mind as well as the Bahrain-Qatar Friendship Bridge will be completed by then and you can drive from one place to the next. Bahrain is probably the most socially liberal country in the area as well - kind of the Middle East's Cancun. The UAE has developed cities like Abu Dhabi + which already have usable stadiums + plenty of accommodation options - as well as Sharjah, Al-Ain, Beta Zayed which can all be developed to host matches. The downfall to the UAE is that it does not border Qatar. There's a tiny slip of Saudi Arabia between the two of then which makes driving between the two countries complicated as SA is not an easy country to get a visa for.

Oh well, it should be interesting to see what FIFA comes up with next...

 

Well put Glenn.

An invoice for the next tranche of cash?

 

yes, the stadia in the little movie are magnificent, and if anyone has a chance of actually building them, it may be a petro-rich state like qatar who could as easily burn the cash as build the stadia. ignoring any dubious aspect of the stadia (like open air air-conditioning, packing them up as resources after the fact., etc.) and just assuming they will be built as promised, i'm less worried about the stadia than things like, what the hell to do between games for those who don't have money to burn.

qatar strikes me as like monaco, but with money, and temperatures around 110F. if you'd rather be caught dead than in a mere 4 star hotel, and blowing $60k in an air conditioned afternoon on a couple of handbags at a boutique is your idea of entertainment, then you are all set. make a mental note to maybe buy a new jet in early 2022, maybe even one that can carry your new yacht to dock outside one of those pretty new stadia.

for most of us, if we make it there, we'll have to stay at one of these non-existent 3 star hotels they say they will make an effort to build, and we'll have to huddle in their 3 star lobbies as we figure out exactly how to enjoy ourselves without risking heat stroke or feeling like paupers. are they going to build 3 star malls also and suggest people simply spend time there?

i like the idea that you should be able to simply take a cab to whatever game you have tickets to, but 2-4 weeks in an expensive desert doesn't sound that appealing to me. maybe there are fun things to do in qatar that don't require a bottomless wallet, but i haven't heard of them.

 

Exactly. If they are now open to both moving the world cup to january and hosting some games in neighboring countries - on what grounds was Qatar even awarded the WC in the first place? They're just making this up as they go along.

 

That would be sweet.

Or maybe they could host a Winter Classic for the NHL.

 

Vegas did it so why not?

 

those meaningless and small-time/localized events do not interest them. their focus is clearly on the World's Game.

they've got Barca --

don't know if this has been posted:

Qatar's Barcelona deal shows that for the rich Arab state, the World Cup is not enough
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...h-Arab-state-the-World-Cup-is-not-enough.html

and a very interesting article overall on the business of soccer globally.

other associated links that I was previously unaware of and how Qatar's money and lobbying (especially in Africa) were a key to their winning bid:
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/socc...al-a-blow-to-world-cup-bid-20100113-m4yg.html

http://www.askmen.com/sports/fanatic_300/315b_the-bid-for-the-world-cup.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article6979959.ece

 

Las Vegas's average low are in the 30's in Dec., Jan., and Feb.

 

Qatar are spending 4 billion on stadiums. The US have already spent way more than 4 billion and will be spending at least another 10-20 billion more in the next 12 years.

Ever watched the NFL? - the stadiums are awesome and all nicer than the yet-to-exist Qatari stadiums (i've seen their bid) and bigger apart from the one stadium with the 420,000 sq feet video screen. The only difference is that they aren't shaped like seashells. Have you ever seen Cowboys stadium? (1.3 billion) with capacity of 100,000 in a dome. New Meadowlands stadium in New York (1.6 billion)? Fedex Field in Washington with 90,000 attendance. Reliant Stadium, Phoenix and Indiannapolis all have domes with capacity of 70,000. Not too mention another 30 stadiums.

I live in Canada - so I'm not "Amerocentric" but everybody knows that the center of all glamor and big events happen in the U.S (think Hollywood). Nobody pulls off sporting events like the Americans.

 

I believe it's true BHM made noise about running against Blatter. It was speculated he could win.

Edit: Maybe he didn't ever declare to run, but he did voice opposition to Blatter continuing due to age and not wanting unlimited terms for a president. He's also seen by many as Blatter's successor. Some history between Blatter & Bin Hammam...

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...ed-bin-hammam-and-sees-no-threat-from-platini

More...

http://www.france24.com/en/20100827-afc-chief-bin-hammam-rules-out-bid-fifa-presidency

 

Pretty sure that the whole stadium factor played but a minor role in the bidding. The US wasn't going to win, regardless.

 

Vegas did it September with game time temp's in the 70's.

 

Except for the Australians, when it comes to large international sporting events (eg Olympics - Atlanta versus Sydney).

 

I think very few of us would be up in arms about losing the '22 WC to Australia. The first few days definitely sore about it, but in the long run, no.

 

The feeling would've been the same in the reverse situation, too.

 

I'm sure you're right. Because if it had been about facilities, the US would've won hands down.

The initial US-bid site selection was clearly motivated by selecting large stadia -- something like 100 with a capacity greater than 60,000 -- and Gulati always trumpeted the US's advantage in large-capacity stadia that were to be in-place regardless when the WC was held. England and Germany like to talk about how they could hold it tomorrow, but it still doesn't compare to the US stadia situation.

To compare, I've been to the Sydney Football Stadium, one of their larger stadia with a capacity of 45,000. It's nowhere near as nice as an NFL stadium, even one of the older generation like Candlestick or the Metrodome (golly, it's hard to come up with NFL stadiums that are more than 20 years old). It was more like a slightly larger Red Bull Arena.

 

This has a lot to do with what I think the big deal with FIFA has been in recent years. The one dollar under the table vs the two dollars above-board thing I've been going on about. It seems that the "developing" market scheme they seem to have going now (South Africa, Russia, Qatar) isn't really about bringing football to new places, but building stadiums and such in places where corruption won't be fettered. I mean, they've never held in Australia or anywhere near, and that's a market quite ripe for exploitation.

FIFA could've made a killing in the USA in terms of on-paper profitability, but it's rather likely that the ExCo members would've had fewer opportunities to dip their hands personally into the well, and therefore, for themselves a fabulously successful USA 2022 (or England 2018, or Australia 2022, etc) would've been less lucrative.