World Cup 2026
- Thread starter EganSoccerWords
- Start date
Don't worry you gracious taxpayers from the City of New York are paying for my retirement
That about explains it all.
For this reason I don’t know why they don’t drop Qatar and just punt it to us. People are dying to build the infrastructure after a corrupt bidding process and you just turn your head?? Repulsive particularly when you have a near turnkey (relatively speaking obviously) operation that could allow you to walk away from a moral, financial and logistical catastrophe.
It does not help that the two continents with most countries are Asia and Africa, and that those are the parts of the world most (a) pissed at us, (b) happy to stick it to the first world in general and (c) susceptible to payoffs.
The new voting system is even worse than the old.
The new voting system is even worse than the old.
Don't forget South America. What's even worse, I would not be surprised if a "few" countries in CONCACAF votes against us. What's also interesting is the voting I believe will be transparent and made public and not a secret ballot like for the 2022 bid.
So this bid looks like its on the brink of completely falling apart now.
These FIFA demands on the host city were just reported today.
http://thebreaker.news/news/exclusive-fifa-demands/
Since that broke, Vancouver, Chicago, LA, and Minneapolis have all withdrawn their spots as potential host cities.
These FIFA demands on the host city were just reported today.
http://thebreaker.news/news/exclusive-fifa-demands/
Since that broke, Vancouver, Chicago, LA, and Minneapolis have all withdrawn their spots as potential host cities.
FIFA demands:
- Massive tax exemptions
- Requires hosts countries to be entirely responsible for all security
- Requires host countries to assume liability for all security and safety related incidents
- Requires special laws and enforcement against counterfeiting, trademark violation, ambush marketing and “the prohibition of the secondary ticket market in relation to the competition.”
- Wants a visa-free environment where work permits are issued “unconditionally and without any restriction or discrimination of any kind.”
Really? Good for them.
One of their requirements is to basically allow FIFA to launder money:
The hosting agreement also includes a clause guaranteeing the “unrestricted import and export of all foreign currencies to and from the host country/host countries by means of bank transfer, as well as the unrestricted exchange and conversion of all foreign currencies into local currency, U.S. dollars, Euros or Swiss francs, is unrestricted, not subject to any taxes in the host country, and in line with the conditions prevailing on the international foreign exchange market.”
The hosting agreement also includes a clause guaranteeing the “unrestricted import and export of all foreign currencies to and from the host country/host countries by means of bank transfer, as well as the unrestricted exchange and conversion of all foreign currencies into local currency, U.S. dollars, Euros or Swiss francs, is unrestricted, not subject to any taxes in the host country, and in line with the conditions prevailing on the international foreign exchange market.”
At this point, definitely.
As much as I wanted us to be hosting the WC, not under these ridiculous circumstances.
This will just speed up the process for countries to break away and form a rival org. None of the European economic leading countries will agree to be a party to money laundering, and remove the US, Canada, Australia, and some of the Asian countries, and FIFA will have a real problem promoting a competition when that many aren’t attached.
This actually offends me the least. The provisos also state that this free currency movement guarantee “will by no means limit or restrict the applicability of laws and regulations in the host country/host countries to prevent money laundering.” You can guarantee what they want -- free movement of currency -- while still policing laundering. Lots of countries impose currency controls and trading limits. Many fix the exchange rate and limit exchanges to those run by the government. It is reasonable, IMO, for FIFA to want no part of that. I understand some will try to take advantage of loosened controls and the vast amounts of money moving around to launder, but there's a trade-off in everything.
OTOH, I find this both appalling and amusing: “It is also requested to grant exemptions from labour law and other legislation for companies and personnel directly involved with the competition, provided that these exemptions do not undermine or compromise the government’s commitment to respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights.”
So FIFA and its contractors can pay subminimum wage, ignore OSHA and other safety regulations, no overtime, violate existing contracts and union protections, but they must have to offer these sweet opportunities to all races, faiths, sexes, etc evenly.
And the complete tax holiday is beyond absurd. I don't want the WC here under these conditions.
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I was going to make some snark about neoliberalism here, but nah - this is just fucked up. Congrats, Morocco, if you guys really want it that bad.
Grant Wahl posted the original FIFA document confirming this all too.
Cities that missed the cut:
Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia
United States
Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago, Illinois
Detroit, Michigan
Las Vegas, Nevada
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Phoenix, Arizona
Salt Lake City, Utah
Tampa, Florida
Probably the four i was expecting to make it were vancouver,chicago.minneapolis and las Vegas but they all dropped out.
Vancouver said its bid was rejected because it refused to comply with FIFA requirements that include tax waivers and putting agreements under Swiss law.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office said in a statement that “FIFA could not provide a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns that put our city and taxpayers at risk. The uncertainty for taxpayers, coupled with FIFA’s inflexibility and unwillingness to negotiate, were clear indications that further pursuit of the bid wasn’t in Chicago’s best interests.”
“After much discussion and several attempts to work within the parameters prescribed by FIFA, we chose not to continue forward in the bid process,” the Minneapolis Bid Committee said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the inability to negotiate the terms of the various bid agreements did not provide our partners, and our community, with sufficient protections from future liability and unforeseen changes in commitments.”
Las Vegas said they couldnt afford the costs to invest in specialised facilities and also dropped out.
Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia
United States
Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago, Illinois
Detroit, Michigan
Las Vegas, Nevada
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Phoenix, Arizona
Salt Lake City, Utah
Tampa, Florida
Probably the four i was expecting to make it were vancouver,chicago.minneapolis and las Vegas but they all dropped out.
Vancouver said its bid was rejected because it refused to comply with FIFA requirements that include tax waivers and putting agreements under Swiss law.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office said in a statement that “FIFA could not provide a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns that put our city and taxpayers at risk. The uncertainty for taxpayers, coupled with FIFA’s inflexibility and unwillingness to negotiate, were clear indications that further pursuit of the bid wasn’t in Chicago’s best interests.”
“After much discussion and several attempts to work within the parameters prescribed by FIFA, we chose not to continue forward in the bid process,” the Minneapolis Bid Committee said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the inability to negotiate the terms of the various bid agreements did not provide our partners, and our community, with sufficient protections from future liability and unforeseen changes in commitments.”
Las Vegas said they couldnt afford the costs to invest in specialised facilities and also dropped out.
Oh and LA's proposed stadium is the Rose Bowl, with the possibility of the Inglewood Stadium being used.
Id imagine 16 stadiums will still be chosen.
Id imagine 16 stadiums will still be chosen.
