Watching the presentations the past two days of the two successful men's World Cup bids, Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022), I was struck by how much each relied on an argument so persuasive in Rio de Janeiro's winning bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
It's an argument that asserts a moral imperative to bring the world's two largest sporting events to regions they never have been, as had been the case for the Olympics and South America.
It is an argument designed to appeal to both a sense of fair play as well as a sense of ego in leaving a groundbreaking legacy among those who vote for host cities or countries, even if evidence once again suggests that several voters may have been more interested in lining their own pockets than anything else.
Both Russia and Qatar used maps showing the World Cup had been in almost other region than Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rio's had showed a gaping Olympic hole over South America.
Qatar's bid chairman said the international soccer federation (FIFA) executive committee members had "an appointment with history." Russia's deputy prime minister said "Let us make history together." Rio had made the same appeal.
"Some things that work, you use again," Mike Lee, chief consultant to the Rio and Qatar bids, told me by telephone Thursday.
One will never know the exact reasons why the 22 FIFA voters chose Russia and Qatar on secret ballots Thursday, but each voter can stand behind the ethically convenient one of spreading the wealth — and the game.
The question now is how long that argument will keep carrying, especially since China wants a World Cup while Africa and India wants an Olympics, all sooner than later.
"I'm not sure that's what played out here," U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said after the United States lost to Qatar 14-8 in the decisive fourth round. "I agree that was an important part of the presentations."
So what might other factors have been?
• FIFA and the IOC love working with authoritarian regimes that will go along with all requests, no matter how costly.
Russia still seems like a dictatorship run by puppet master Vladimir Putin, who promised to throw limitless state resources and rubles at the World Cup project, just as he did in backing Sochi's successful bid for the 2014 Winter Games.
Qatar is a family business, an absolute monarchy in which the Al-Thani family runs everything. Such control over the small country's fabulous wealth means FIFA will not worry about Qatar's ability to fulfill all its organizational promises.
• It's not a good idea to raise corruption charges against the self-important, self-elected pooh-bahs who vote for hosts.
When Swiss IOC member Marc Hodler blew the whistle on host city vote-buying practices in the IOC, it doomed Sion, Switzerland's otherwise superior bid for the 2006 Winter Games, no matter that many felt the billionaire Agnelli family bought those Olympics for their hometown of Turin, Italy.
The Sunday Times of London and the BBC both recently reported allegations of vote trading, vote buying, bribery and kickbacks among FIFA executive committee members. The result? Humiliation for England's 2018 bid, long considered a favorite, with a first-round elimination and just two votes for the country credited with codifying the game's rules and spreading it around the globe in the 20th Century.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-1203-hersh-international-sport20101202,0,3796619.column
It's an argument that asserts a moral imperative to bring the world's two largest sporting events to regions they never have been, as had been the case for the Olympics and South America.
It is an argument designed to appeal to both a sense of fair play as well as a sense of ego in leaving a groundbreaking legacy among those who vote for host cities or countries, even if evidence once again suggests that several voters may have been more interested in lining their own pockets than anything else.
Both Russia and Qatar used maps showing the World Cup had been in almost other region than Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rio's had showed a gaping Olympic hole over South America.
Qatar's bid chairman said the international soccer federation (FIFA) executive committee members had "an appointment with history." Russia's deputy prime minister said "Let us make history together." Rio had made the same appeal.
"Some things that work, you use again," Mike Lee, chief consultant to the Rio and Qatar bids, told me by telephone Thursday.
One will never know the exact reasons why the 22 FIFA voters chose Russia and Qatar on secret ballots Thursday, but each voter can stand behind the ethically convenient one of spreading the wealth — and the game.
The question now is how long that argument will keep carrying, especially since China wants a World Cup while Africa and India wants an Olympics, all sooner than later.
"I'm not sure that's what played out here," U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said after the United States lost to Qatar 14-8 in the decisive fourth round. "I agree that was an important part of the presentations."
So what might other factors have been?
• FIFA and the IOC love working with authoritarian regimes that will go along with all requests, no matter how costly.
Russia still seems like a dictatorship run by puppet master Vladimir Putin, who promised to throw limitless state resources and rubles at the World Cup project, just as he did in backing Sochi's successful bid for the 2014 Winter Games.
Qatar is a family business, an absolute monarchy in which the Al-Thani family runs everything. Such control over the small country's fabulous wealth means FIFA will not worry about Qatar's ability to fulfill all its organizational promises.
• It's not a good idea to raise corruption charges against the self-important, self-elected pooh-bahs who vote for hosts.
When Swiss IOC member Marc Hodler blew the whistle on host city vote-buying practices in the IOC, it doomed Sion, Switzerland's otherwise superior bid for the 2006 Winter Games, no matter that many felt the billionaire Agnelli family bought those Olympics for their hometown of Turin, Italy.
The Sunday Times of London and the BBC both recently reported allegations of vote trading, vote buying, bribery and kickbacks among FIFA executive committee members. The result? Humiliation for England's 2018 bid, long considered a favorite, with a first-round elimination and just two votes for the country credited with codifying the game's rules and spreading it around the globe in the 20th Century.
Read More
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-1203-hersh-international-sport20101202,0,3796619.column
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