Trump, FIFA and the politics of the World Cup
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The men's FIFA World Cup will be underway within days. So what should we expect with most of the matches being held in Trump's America? Today, Tracey Holmes, host of the Sports Ambassador podcast, breaks down the money and politics around the biggest World Cup ever staged and ponders why. What could possibly go wrong? I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily.
Tracey, the USA, Canada and Mexico, they were selected to host the FIFA Men's World Cup back in 2018 during Trump's first term. And, well, seven years later, well, a lot of things have changed, haven't they?
They certainly have. And if you think about the bids that they put forward, the slogan of that bid was United 2026. What we have at the moment is anything but. Yes. We know that there are travel problems, immigration problems, a full travel ban for 19 countries, a partial travel ban for 19 others. And I suppose most of all, this affects the fans of teams that have qualified, such as Iran, Haiti, the Ivory Coast and Senegal.
Wow. Yeah. And let's face it, people might be somewhat wary of actually travelling to the United States right now.
Yes, a lot of people are extremely wary. And I think, you know, as far as the US officials go, they probably don't mind that. FIFA, on the other hand, they do mind that because they were looking at pulling in the biggest audience ever for what is essentially the biggest FIFA World Cup ever for the first time 48 nations have qualified.
Yeah, OK, well, before we sort of get to the politics of all of this, why don't we consider that, the economics? As you say, this is the biggest World Cup ever staged. So what does that actually mean, though?
You're talking about 104 matches in 16 cities across three different countries and different time zones in 39 days. Mm. And I suppose if you look at the security overlay required for that, we know the USA has a stressed out aviation system. So you've got a situation where if one flight, let's say, is delayed in Atlanta, meaning the team cannot fly to their next destination, it has an impact on probably 200 other flights across the USA. Suddenly, you've got 5,000 people who are not planning on spending a night in a particular city and now looking for accommodation and alternative travel routes on another day. So it's much more than a football game.
Oh my gosh, yes. It's huge. It's massive. It's complicated. But the thing is, the governing body, FIFA, it stands to make a huge amount of money out of it, doesn't it?
It does. FIFA is the sort of overall association of associations. So the members are made up of 211 national associations. Money from FIFA is distributed to each of those member nations.
What challenges do fans face attending the FIFA World Cup in the US?
There's a couple of different programs. FIFA Forward is one, which is development money. So the money they make from the FIFA World Cup, which happens only once every four years, then goes to these associations to help them develop for the future. Now, when it gets to each of these national associations, the checks and balances might not always be there and just how the money is spent or was meant to be spent might not always happen. But this is, you know, every big organisation faces the same challenges. All right.
Well, FIFA itself is projecting revenue of over $11 billion. So it is massive. Now, of course, the ticket costs, they're causing a bit of a stir.
Ticket prices for the tournament have risen significantly compared to the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar. Authorities in two US states have subpoenaed FIFA over its ticketing practices.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:01
2
What challenges do fans face attending the FIFA World Cup in the US?
4:01–7:13
3
How has Trump's America influenced the FIFA World Cup hosting decisions?
7:13–14:00
4
What are the economic implications of hosting the biggest FIFA World Cup?
14:00–15:21