France Football accuses Qatar of bribing votes for the 2022 World Cup

[DonAK]

USA was second in the voting. Australia was last I believe.

Oh, then it would be fine I guess.

 

[Bertus]

Oh, then it would be fine I guess.

Not really, because who knows if the ones that voted Qatar would vote for Australia instead of USA if there was another vote?

 

[DonAK]

Not really, because who knows if the ones that voted Qatar would vote for Australia instead of USA if there was another vote?

That's true as well. Lets see what happens...

 

[Kerrybai]

Not really, because who knows if the ones that voted Qatar would vote for Australia instead of USA if there was another vote?

Exactly, the original nations should re vote.

 

[PaulFCB]

World Cup 2022 in USA will be the best solution.

I remember how the 1994 World Cup was, special in a way. Teams staying in student campuses and stadiums full.

Of course, they should think of renovating the L.A. stadium, the Coliseum seems a better option than Rose Bowl that looks like a communist dump at the moment, for the present day standards. There were other standards in 1994 regarding stadiums.

They could host like this:

1. New York City - MetLife Stadium
2. Los Angeles - Coliseum / Los Angeles Stadium ( rebuild )
3. Dallas - Cowboys Stadium
4. Miami - Sun Life Stadium
5. Phoenix - University of Arizona Stadium
6. Atlanta - Georgia Dome
7. Indianapolis - Lucas Oil Stadium
8. Seattle - Husky Stadium
9. Baltimore - M&T Stadium
10. Boston - Gillette Stadium

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

There's a new stadium about to open for the San Francisco 49ers (American football) that would probably be perfect. Since it's new it wouldn't need any upgrades. The San Jose Earthquakes (MLS team) are supposed to get a new stadium too, though I don't know how big that would be.

 

[Kerrybai]

There's a new stadium about to open for the San Francisco 49ers (American football) that would probably be perfect. Since it's new it wouldn't need any upgrades. The San Jose Earthquakes (MLS team) are supposed to get a new stadium too, though I don't know how big that would be.

Yeah the 49's stadium would work well and has a capacity of about 70. San Jose are only building a 20k stadium. The great thing about a US tournament is all stadiums will be 65-80k.

 

[Jenks]

The gap between '94 and 2022 is a bit small. I think Australia deserves it more.

 

[Bertus]

World Cup 2022 in USA will be the best solution.

There's no best solution than a new vote.

You people want Qatar to be disqualified but some of you want to just give away the WC2022 just like that. That makes no sense. It's unfair towards the other nations.

 

[Luftstalag14]

The thing with the US hosting another WC is, most Americans could careless about football (not the pointy one). Find a place at least where football is supreme.


Opinion: Popularity of soccer in United States will remain low after World Cup

It’s the world’s biggest and longest sporting party and we’ve always been the kid in the corner too afraid to dance or do a keg stand.

The United States is the oddball at the big dance that is the World Cup, because we still (after decades and decades) haven’t realized that soccer, (ahem) futbol is “the best game on Earth.”

That’s not to say there won’t be great interest here in the month-long extravaganza that’s already underway in Brazil. The TV ratings will be through the roof, even in the States. Personally, I haven’t been this psyched for a soccer tournament since our Essex County U-12 jamboree in 1994. Not so coincidentally, that was also the year the U.S. hosted the World Cup. That was also the year that the hardcore soccer fan convinced the casual U.S. sports fan that in 20 years, soccer would be the most popular game in the country. Sorry Taylor, Trevor and Justin. It just never worked out that way.

The world’s futbol is still an afterthought here. American football is more popular than ever. Those who believe the NFL’s “concussion crisis” will bring its popularity to a halt are mistaken. New helmets will be invented. New rules will be put in place. And in the year 2034, the NFL will still be king.

Football, the one with the pointy ball, is the sports equivalent of oil in this country. We’re addicted, and although there are safer and more efficient ways of getting our sports fix – we won’t quit it. Not in the lifetime of anyone who’s reading this. Don’t feel too bad, though, you soccer people. In 1994, we were also told the metric system would be the preferred method of measurement in the U.S.. We were told gas-powered cars and also gas stations would be nowhere to be seen in 2014. Soccer being the No. 1 sport in the country in a couple of decades wasn’t the only empty promise, for sure.

Look, change is obscenely hard in this country, as any story relating to Washington, D.C. these days will show. Change is even harder when the constituent seeking change has its own internal problems. ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap delivered one of the all-time fascinating, yet chilling reports in the sports network’s history last month when he exposed FIFA (the international governing body of soccer) and Qatar (the host of the 2022 World Cup) for more or less encouraging modern-day slavery to take place in the 2022 host nation in order for giant soccer-only stadiums and mini-cities to be built in time for the games in eight short years. Hundreds of workers have already reportedly died. There’s also a major bribery investigation likely going down soon. It’s the kind of stuff that would make the NCAA and International Olympic Committee blush.

Those bummer stories are sure to be pushed to the backseat while the games in Brazil continue these next few weeks. The games always get the most attention, whether it’s in the United States, Brazil, Europe or Ghana or whether it’s futbol, American football or tetherball.

So enjoy these next few weeks. The games are going to be awesome to watch. Even if you don’t appreciate soccer as a game, the spectacle itself is worth viewing.
Just don’t expect the popularity of this World Cup to be the start of some sort of futbol revolution in the U.S.. Our role is to stand silent in the corner, remember?

 

[Kerrybai]

^ Well MLS is better attended than any South American leagues and is pretty close to France and the Netherlands.

Also the 94 World Cup had the biggest crowds ( granted the US does have bigger stadiums )

1990 52 2,516,348 Yugoslavia – United Arab Emirates Round 1 27,833 West Germany – Yugoslavia Round 1 74,765 48,391
1994 52 3,587,538 Netherlands – Saudi Arabia Round 1 50,535 Brazil – Italy Final 94,194 68,991
1998 64 2,785,100 Paraguay – Bulgaria Round 1 27,650 Brazil – France Final 80,000 43,517
2002 64 2,705,197 Spain – Paraguay Round 1 24,000 Germany – Brazil Final 69,029 42,269
2006 64 3,359,439 Iran – Angola Round 1 38,000 Germany – Argentina Quarterfinals 72,000 52,491
2010 64 3,178,856 New Zealand – Slovakia Round 1 23,871 Netherlands – Spain Final 84,490 49,670

I'ts behind Hockey, Gridiron and Basketball but it's a growing sport and would be a huge financial success. Out of interest where could they host it where football is number 1? Wouldn't that involve keeping it in Europe and South America?

 

[Luftstalag14]

I'ts behind Hockey, Gridiron and Basketball but it's a growing sport and would be a huge financial success. Out of interest where could they host it where football is number 1? Wouldn't that involve keeping it in Europe and South America?

It is behind baseball too, I think. And way, way behind the other sports you mentioned.

I'd say at this point, other than the US, Canada and a few countries in South Asia (I am thinking India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh here), football is number one elsewhere in the world, not just Europe and South America.

 

[PaulFCB]

LOL. You mentioned all those countries but forgot Australia.

So the argument with "football not being 1st in USA" is totally not Pro-Australia's Bid. They has Aussie Rules as nr. 1 afaik.

There are many countries in Europe where football isn't nr. 1. Lithuania has basketball, others like Finland have ice-hockey etc.
So no way football is nr. 1 everywhere except a bunch of countries.

Also, I heard Colombia is the country where football is practically on everybody's mind, much more than in Brazil or Argentina, yet, they never hosted a World Cup cause they missed the 1986 and Mexico took it.

 

[Kerrybai]

It is behind baseball too, I think. And way, way behind the other sports you mentioned.

I'd say at this point, other than the US, Canada and a few countries in South Asia (I am thinking India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh here), football is number one elsewhere in the world, not just Europe and South America.

Yet all those other countries where football is number 1 do not have a league as well attended as the MLS and would not average 70k per game at a World Cup. It doesn't matter if football isn't number 1, the 94 world cup already proved how successful it would be.

 

[PaulFCB]

I don't remember exactly, but I think the packed stadiums were Rose Bowl and Stanford in Palo Alto, SF.

I remember the two Californian stadiums were very isolated, far from the rest too.

The thing is, USA can have lots of huge stadiums, it's a big country, a World Cup in USA is something similar with Euro 2020 across all Europe from this point of view.

I remember Rose Bowl packing 90k+ for each game and Palo Alto, SF being close. They were very isolated and far from the rest of the host cities meant a long flight to Detroit for example. A 2022 might also have Seattle and Phoenix closer.

They could easily host an "East Coast" USA World Cup and keeping it more tight this way, eventually, to pay back the debts, let San Francisco or Dallas try to host the 2024 or 2028 Olympic Games .