Tens of thousands of fans from around the world are either already in Brazil, or are heading there for one of the world’s largest sporting events, the FIFA World Cup of football (soccer), which begins tomorrow.
This time however, the level of controversy surrounding such a major international sports events is much greater then ever before.
Vijay Setlur is a sport marketing instructor at York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto.
ListenWhile international football fans rejoice in the excitement, the spectacle and the top notch level of competition, once again the cost of staging such huge international sports events has raised the ire of a large segment of the host country’s citizens.
The billions spent this year’s World Cup sports venues and other aspects should have gone into much needed social programmes, housing and education protesters say.
And, on the eve of the event, there is still a rush to complete stadiums and other infrastructure.
Recent studies also point out that such major events always cost more than initially estimates. A University of Oxford study of the Olympics from 1960 to 2012 showed they exceed budgets 100 percent of the time.
In addition, Andrew Jennings, author of “FOUL! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals”, is quoted as saying “Major sporting events are “a hoax on the people, playing on their natural desire for sport – not realizing, they ain’t going to get a ticket,” This is especially galling in a country like Brazil, where the passion for soccer is omnipresent.
While such events are always very profitable to organizing agencies, the claims of future “legacy” benefits to the host city and or country are very difficult to verify or prove, and instead often leave cities with huge stadiums, hotels, meeting centres and so on, that are expensive to maintain and little used.
For the 2014 World Cup, the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) stands to make about $4.5 billion even as transit workers strike over the costs to the country to stage the sport, in spite of the fact that football is wildly popular in Brazil.
Faced with the realization of the cost-benefit doubts, several major cities have already pulled out of bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Further questions over allegations of bribery in Qatar’s winning bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup have begun to make advertisers nervous about being tainted with the scandal.
Vijay Setlur says costs and other issues may limit countries abilities to bid for major international events, to the point where in the future it may be that only a few “rich” nations will have the desire and money to host them.
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