There are threads all over the place for tonight's news that 10 men, including Jack Warner and the current head of CONCACAF, Jeff Webb, have been indicted for fraud and bribery amogst other charges, regarding the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Swiss Police have arrested at least some of the men today. This is a thread more aimed at tracking the various players in the Business/Media world, and their reporting, or lack thereof.
Also posted this on the "ESPN Daily Soccer Studio" (ESPN FC) thread. Today's OTL (230pET on ESPN) question: What is your reaction to the arrests of FIFA officials for federal corruption charges? #FIFAarrests— Outside the Lines (@OTLonESPN) May 27, 2015
Now that Gus Johnson won't be announcing, it isn't as scary. What would be more scary is if it is a winter world cup, how they'd squeeze it on to ANY US TV channel with everything else that happens during the winter.
This is about money laundering, not bribery. DOJ has no jurisdiction on bribery outside of the United States, all of these arrests are money laundering arrests, where they DO have jurisdiction because of the "war of terror"
Bob Ley noted after the DOJ/FBI press conference that Outside The Lines will be an extended one-hour edition (normally 30 minutes).
Lalas just said on Fox Sports 1 all of this can possibly lead to an investigation on the TV bidding process of the World Cups. Fox Producers and executives are probably saying " Shut up, Shut Up , SHUT UP!" Gotta love his candid honesty though.
Where the heck is Oliver Tse when we could use him for the dramedy? Bla bla bla BeIN Sports bla bla bla Traffic Sports bla bla bla Jack Warner Caribbean bla bla plexiglass desk bla bla bla Rebecca Lowe bla bla bla $1 plus transmission fees...
BeANs, you misspelled BeANs. I'll have to go back and dig up some of those old threads to try to see if any of Oliver's old conspiracy were close to the mark.
7pm eastern / 4pm pacific 7p, ESPN: OTL's 1-hour special.@BobLeyESPN w/ guest @IanDarke and a LIVE report from Zurich prior to #FIFA election. https://t.co/WOcXOCB6KX— Outside the Lines (@OTLonESPN) May 28, 2015
Some were close. Some were a stretch. Most were probably well off the mark. One of his first, circa 2000ish was that MLS would go belly-up and the Galaxy would join MFL. Ha. But...to his credit, he kept saying that FSW would fail and be replaced by "FOX Nascar Channel." Fox did buy Speed, afterall. That's not entirely true, but they did end up with a racing channel. I'd still like to know what interest the Qatari leadership had in Big East. (Really? Now THAT would have been a laugh.)
ESPN seems to have devoted a lot of time to this topic. Not sure how we should read this. Are they pissed because they lost the rights or are they just doing their duties. Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised how much air time and press this issue received in this country. I didn't think it would move the needle.
It is very , very rare to have the US Attorney General and the FBI director in the same room investigating the same issue at the same press conference. This is Gigantic news, and everyone knows it. Even people who hate soccer are talking about this as a major issue in the media. And it deserves even more coverage.
Exactly. Once you get companies like Nike and Visa involved... heck, it was on the regular 6:30 PM broadcast news last night, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it on there repeatedly as the story continues. This story transcends soccer and all of sport.
This is from another forum, but the joke applies here: I can only assume it was a very public middle finger. Soooo.... Nike gets in trouble. Visa gets in trouble. Other US-based companies will probably feel the heat. Using a domino-effect here, what happens to other teams/leagues/events that these US-based companies sponsor? Anything? The non-soccer "fallout" will be interesting to watch.
There are seven or eight companies who decide who runs FIFA. I can't remember all of them but they are VISA, Samsung, Coke, Budweiser, Adidas and some others. Based on their commitments FIFA can probably lose one and replace it but if they lose two they are in deep poo. They may already be in deep poo because the FBI is a bad enemy to have but there are reports that the IRS is involved now and that is like having a rapid pit bull on meth chewing on your leg. You might get away alive but the dog is keeping the leg.
I'd love to take a time machine to this time next year. I bet this is one of the first things on the new president's agenda...after taking out the trash, of course...which the governments of USA and Switzerland seem to be doing quite well.
I am sure Sepp will scrub everything clean in the next 4 months, that there will be no evidence of wrongdoing. Zero chance that Russia loses WC and 10% chance Qatar loses it. However, I see a possibility where Qatar could be pressured to give up its WC but unlikely because they have all the money and just don't care.