Quote Originally Posted by superheavyrhun View Post
Looking at it objectively, I think Russia can be looked at, like the South Africa World Cup, as a legacy cup. Vastly improved infrastructure, host cities getting a boost out of their post-communist stagnation, and a potential massive audience for football.

Qatar however, seems to be a baffling choice. Apart from the fact that it is in the middle east which again is an untapped football market, it doesn't seem to make sense. The number of people in the country, needing to build that many stadiums will need a huge per capita investment for such a small country. Also, those stadia are unlikely to be filled on a regular basis afterwards. Let's say 10 stadia x 80,000 people each. It would need half the country to go on a regular basis to make those pay off. On the plus side though, I guess the retiring players lured by the big oil bucks will get a decent stadium in which to earn their pension.
I see no merit in granting these kinds of events to corrupt, fascist states. Russia is an awful choice for the World Cup. Who the heck is going to want to go there and watch the games?

I am no patriot as anyone knows, but the British campaign was far superior. We have the stadiums and infrastructure, we have experience in dealing with stadium level matches week in week out, we have the history and we have a relatively stable society. Most of London is foreign, so people won't have too hard a time fitting in when they come over to watch the games.

Two votes? The entire thing is rigged. Who on earth wants to see the world cup in Qatar? That is just ridiculous. The place is hotter than the sun and no bigger than my left shoe. It just doesn't make any sense to host such an event there. Again, nobody is going to have any fun in such conditions.