Last week, FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. There are numerous problems here both in the awarding of the tournament to Qatar and the coverage it has received in the United States.
Problems with Qatar
The heat – For the uninitiated, the World Cup is played in June and July. Temperatures in Qatar, a desert nation in the Northern Hemisphere are really hot. Probably too hot to be playing soccer in. No matter, FIFA awarded the World Cup to Qatar anyway and the nation in its presentation promised air conditioned stadiums outdoors. How they are going to manage that I don't know. Some have suggested moving the World Cup to the Winter is a possibility but that isn't going to happen. There is no way the European clubs agree to that (particularly those in England who feel jilted they didn't get the chance to host the 2018 World Cup) and for once, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland will side with the European clubs and leagues. There is no way FIFA can step in and just say you are postponing all of your games and redoing your schedule to fit our needs.
The human rights issues – The World Cup is the biggest spectator sporting event in the world. Based on Qatar's laws right now, there are likely to be problems with both homosexuals and women being in the country for work or fan reasons. This isn't going to go over well in the money zones of soccer (Western Europe, mostly).
Stadiums and economics – Qatar isn't a big nation. In fact, it has about the area of Connecticut and the population of Phoenix. It only has any money because of the rich supply of oil it happens to sit on. Somehow, the nation has to fit 10 stadiums in that area. It just doesn't seem to work and the stadium idea seem rather fantastical. A floating island stadium? Outdoor air conditioning? Really?
Problems with the coverage
Too much focus on the jilted Americans – Much of the media coverage about this has come from the United Staes, feeling jilted about being passed over for another major world sporting event (following the IOC passing over Chicago for the Olympics). The American media wants to host another major world sporting event and they aren't used to waiting long lengths of time between being the host. Since 1980, there have been two Winter Olympics, two Summer Olympics and a World Cup held in the United States. Add to that two Winter Olympics and the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada and the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and you get a world sporting climate that is tired of heading to North America at the same time that the US holds its worst political reputation ever. The media, not being used to not having these events, wants it at home. In addition, while the American bid was strong, it wasn't the best. That honor would go to Australia, a nation that has never hosted the World Cup and has the money, infrastructure and intangible reasons (no major recent events and no issues with human rights or weather) on its side to nearly the same level that the United States has. Nobody here has even mentioned the Australian bid just painting this as corrupt FIFA (which is likely true even if not proven at this point) stealing our birthright to have every major event come here.
The fact of the matter is that the American media has it right in one sense. Qatar is a bad choice to host the World Cup motivated more by politics than the best bid and presentation or the finances. While the tournament might ultimately be successful, taking a risk with it twice in a row (and taking it to Russia in 2018 is certainly a risk though the Russians are much more deserving and likely capable of pulling off a successful World Cup than Qatar) is ridiculous. It should have gone either to the United States or to Australia.
When is the World Cup (or any other major event) coming back to the United States?
As for when the United States can expect a major event here again, who knows? The Summer Olympics aren't going to be here any time soon after the Chicago fiasco. What American city is actually going to try a bid for the games and there is doubt that the United States can win in any realistic political climate in the future. The Winter Olympics would have a decent chance except that those games have made their way to either the United States or neighboring Canada four times in the last nine times the games have been held. North American fatigue is likely even with the games avoiding North America for its next two installments.
The World Cup of course is subject to FIFA politicking and the United States doesn't seem to be any good at that. Considering that North America will have gone the longest time between hosting World Cup's when 2026 comes around, there is a possibility of the United States winning that as long as another North American country other than Mexico (who has hosted twice and would become the leader with three World Cups hosted if they won making it unlikely) is not in the bidding, the United States has a chance if it bids again. Of course, based on FIFA's decision making, it is possible China gets it and if they don't probably Western Europe knowing that 2018 was sent to Eastern Europe and 2030 would be headed to China.
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