http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24884666 This is going to screw with just about every league on the planet, but imagine what the playoff schedule would look like in a year like that.
We should move this thread to some other forum, or whatever. I imagine the MLS Playoff schedule will look great in May/June (if we're imagining things nine years into the future).
I just hope some league (EPL please) has the balls to sue FIFA for the disruption it'll cause and finally gets this charade over and the tournament reallocated.
Or MLS. Don Garber said MLS will most likely be one of the top 3 soccer leagues by 2020, so it should have clout (and balls) by then.
FOX is going to want their billions back. I just can't imagine the Top Leagues allowing this without a dogfight.
IMO Fox is the key. US television rights are the main money maker for FIFA, and this isn't going to fly with them.
There will be Hell On in Europe if he tries that route.. Just because he´s desperate to cover up his mistakes.
It's also important as a growing market. The US is nowhere near it's peak for soccer consumption (even by jingoistic "people only watch this every four years" standards). Those rights will only get more valuable if FIFA stays the course. If they move the time the tournament is held, welp, good luck.
Are you saying not as many Americans would watch the World Cup if it was in the middle of the NFL, college football, NHL, and NBA seasons as opposed to June and July? Probably not.
They couldnt resist the allure of Qatari money and now have a mess on their hands. The world soccer calendar would be tremendously affected on the one hand and on the other hand you have to worry about the health of players playing the world cup in actual temperatures that could exceed 102 degrees. Not sure if humidity is a factor in Qatar---if it is then the heat problem would be made even worse by the actual temps+heat index . It's a mess.