FIFA... business as usual

[Corvinus85]

FIFA president Sepp Blatter proclaims himself "president of everybody"

Wow. I love that pic of Putin and Medvedev laughing.

[Prince of the North]

FIFA president Sepp Blatter proclaims himself "president of everybody"

Wow. I love that pic of Putin and Medvedev laughing.

I don't know much about FIFA, etc. but it seems to me that Blatter is about two millimeters away from declaring himself "Emperor for Life"! What's much less sticky than teflon? Whatever it is, Blatter's certainly covered in it!

[Disturber of Peace]

I don't know much about FIFA, etc. but it seems to me that Blatter is about two millimeters away from declaring himself "Emperor for Life"! What's much less sticky than teflon? Whatever it is, Blatter's certainly covered in it!

Would be cool if he gets stabbed by a zerg of UEFA officials during some event.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

I'll just leave this here...

http://s1336.photobucket.com/user/Lumpy67/media/Fifa%20joke_zpsed5l74d7.jpg.html

[Calibandar]

Blatter today: I will forgive, but won't forget, when asked about UEFA opposing his corruption. Now that he's been re-elected, he's not even hiding his disgust at the opposition anymore. He will make those who opposed him feel it.

[Altherion]

There isn't much he can do to them though. They're already almost mad enough to do something serious and they provide most of the money and over half of the good teams. If they can convince (or bribe) South America to join them, they could probably make a new organization. A tournament with UEFA and CONMEBOL would arguably be more interesting than the World Cup since many of the teams at the WC are weaker than than those eliminated in the final stage of qualification.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

There isn't much he can do to them though. They're already almost mad enough to do something serious and they provide most of the money and over half of the good teams. If they can convince (or bribe) South America to join them, they could probably make a new organization. A tournament with UEFA and CONMEBOL would arguably be more interesting than the World Cup since many of the teams at the WC are weaker than than those eliminated in the final stage of qualification.

That's the thing I don't understand. How did FIFA get so much power in the first place? I get that The World Cup is an extremely popular event, but it's all the participating countries who provide the athletes and coaches. The host country provides all the infrastructure and facilities. Where do they get their leverage. It makes zero sense to me. It seems to me that if the Europeans simply pulled out of so much as one Cup, FIFA would be more or less forced to clean house.

[MerenthaClone]

That's the thing I don't understand. How did FIFA get so much power in the first place? I get that The World Cup is an extremely popular event, but it's all the participating countries who provide the athletes and coaches. The host country provides all the infrastructure and facilities. Where do they get their leverage. It makes zero sense to me. It seems to me that if the Europeans simply pulled out of so much as one Cup, FIFA would be more or less forced to clean house.

Think of how much money is generated around a world cup. Ad revenue, endorsement revenue, etc. There are a ton of companies that would lose millions each if their country didn't go to one WC, the teams included, and those are all going to place pressure to keep going back to the WC.

Its a prisoner's dilemma where you basically all go in because if you're the team/club/country that doesn't compete, you're just shooting yourself in the foot and everyone else profits.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Think of how much money is generated around a world cup. Ad revenue, endorsement revenue, etc. There are a ton of companies that would lose millions each if their country didn't go to one WC, the teams included, and those are all going to place pressure to keep going back to the WC.

Its a prisoner's dilemma where you basically all go in because if you're the team/club/country that doesn't compete, you're just shooting yourself in the foot and everyone else profits.

But it's gotten to a point where you've tied yourself to a truly despicable organization. People are going to die providing the infrastructure for the Qatar World Cup. If you participate in that Cup, you are complicit. On top of that, if enough influential countries participate in the boycott, the whole enterprise becomes much less profitable. Honestly, I think if UEFA backed out, it would likely create a chain-reaction, and I doubt what was left in the end would generate all that much fan interest. It would likely be a financial disaster to those who remained invested.

[Lord of Oop North]

Hopefully UEFA follows through on its threat to boycott the next World Cup.

So .. apparently FIFA voted not to extend the eight-year rule, which will allow UEFA to bid on the 2026 World Cup. I'm guessing that money is going to talk.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Artists attack Qatar World Cup sponsors...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3103286/Adidas-stripes-gravestones-McDonald-s-arches-whips-Internet-artists-attack-multi-nationals-sponsoring-2022-World-Cup-Qatar-FIFA-accused-corruption-bribery.html

[Tinker]

But it's gotten to a point where you've tied yourself to a truly despicable organization. People are going to die providing the infrastructure for the Qatar World Cup. If you participate in that Cup, you are complicit. On top of that, if enough influential countries participate in the boycott, the whole enterprise becomes much less profitable. Honestly, I think if UEFA backed out, it would likely create a chain-reaction, and I doubt what was left in the end would generate all that much fan interest. It would likely be a financial disaster to those who remained invested.

Platini was one of the main people wanting the Qatar bid along with Beckenbauer.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Platini was one of the main people wanting the Qatar bid along with Beckenbauer.

I'm not suggesting that the UEFA is without corruption, I'm just saying that it seems to me they have enough pull to distance themselves from FIFA. I suppose they might have to clean their own house a bit before attempting to affect that change though.

[Horza]

Some good context, first on the Blatter model and second on what it replaced.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

Some good context, first on the Blatter model and second on what it replaced.

That second piece was just incoherent collection of anti-colonialist soundbites that at no point even came close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. I am dumber for having read it.

[Horza]

That second piece was just incoherent collection of anti-colonialist soundbites that at no point even came close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. I am dumber for having read it.

You might be misdiagnosing there.

[Jon AS]

I have to admit I didn't think much of the Milanovic piece, either. Starting with 'I won't be discussing why this is happening now, but here's why it's happening now', he goes on to create a false dichotomy, declaring that the only alternative to Blatter is a return to the pre-1974 state of doing things. The reason for this, apparently, will be that Nu-FIFA won't have an interest of expanding the game as much as possible while simultaneously increasing commercialisation of the World Cup (which leads me to wonder whether he's been paying attention what has been happening to the World Cup over the last few decades). And of course complaining that Nu-FIFA would "host World Cups in impeccable stadiums in Germany and the US" kinda ignores the fact that everyone bidding for a World Cup has to convince FIFA (or at least 'convince' enough people who get to vote) that their infrastructure is up to the task, that there are, at least in theory, global standards.

Complaining about awarding another Cup to the US or Europe is also rather silly when the host country everybody is complaining about is Qatar. This is clearly a great example of how Blatter is using corruption to the advantage of the less affluent FIFA members. Sure, that may involve slave labour building stadiums in a country where it's too hot to play football during the summer, but think of the massive Qatari population that will benefit from having a bunch state-of-the-art sporting arenas built on their doorstep. These stadiums will at least never fall into disuse, and the whole thing will presumably create tens of millions of new football enthusiasts.

[Horza]

I agree that 'the present or the past' is a false dichotomy and some of the comparisons are overblown, but as the Bloomberg piece points out, even the FIFA reformers are in practice aiming to win votes from underdeveloped countries by promising even more in development assistance. When you take into account how most of these countries perform from a governance perspective, not to mention a sports governance one -- Indonesia has made a serious effort to tackle corruption over the last fifteen years but it just got suspended from all FIFA comps for endemic government interference in its FA -- the practical effect is going to be more scandals and influence-peddling. In that sense I don't think Milanovic is wrong to suggest that efforts to introduce greater transparency and improve FIFA governance are going to see less development assistance and a narrower range of World Cup hosts. When he talks about commercialisation, I suspect he means something like the World Cup becoming an elite event targeted to a much wealthier audience, as elsewhere in the piece he notes that commercialisation was intregral to the Havelange-Blatter new model (or maybe he just wants it both ways).

Regarding Qatar, I think it's worthwhile to point out that again that was a decision pushed by UEFA and Michel Platini (apparently at the behest of Sarko). That actually is a point against Milanovic in a different way, as it undercuts his dichotomy between 'clean' Northern administrators and their freewheeling Southern counterparts. The extra dimension to World Cup bidding shenanigans is geopolitics; emerging powers in particular like to host these events to demonstrate their arrival on the world scene,in that regard white elephant stadiums and dead laborers are just another price to pay. I don't see how that's going to change when there's so much prestige to be won.

[Jon AS]

Yeah, I don't doubt that even getting rid of Blatter wouldn't eliminate corruption. It's a problem in various organisations of this type, and UEFA is certainly not the champion you'd want (IIRC Platini rose to power in very similar fashion to Blatter, by pitting the smaller countries against the wealthier ones; and I think I've complained enough about the likes of Beckenbauer being in positions of influence anywhere), but at this point it seems to be the best one can hope for.

His point about the Champions League is well taken, but that's as much driven by the clubs as it is UEFA. I'd love for the tournament to go back to the old European Cup system, but even clubs who stand no chance of making it out of the group stage make way more money this way than they would under the old system.

When he talks about commercialisation, I suspect he means something like the World Cup becoming an elite event targeted to a much wealthier audience, as elsewhere in the piece he notes that commercialisation was intregral to the Havelange-Blatter new model (or maybe he just wants it both ways).

But it's already targeted at the wealthier segments of society. Tickets are very expensive, and you get scenes like last year's clearing out of the favelas to spare World Cup tourists the sight.

The extra dimension to World Cup bidding shenanigans is geopolitics; emerging powers in particular like to host these events to demonstrate their arrival on the world scene,in that regard white elephant stadiums and dead laborers are just another price to pay. I don't see how that's going to change when there's so much prestige to be won.

Yup, though getting rid of the continental rotation also isn't going to help. Instead they should add standards for sustainability and ethical treatment of workers to the bidding process, but that would ultimately cut into FIFA's profits.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

The extra dimension to World Cup bidding shenanigans is geopolitics; emerging powers in particular like to host these events to demonstrate their arrival on the world scene,in that regard white elephant stadiums and dead laborers are just another price to pay. I don't see how that's going to change when there's so much prestige to be won.

Just another price to pay? That price is too fucking high.