Estão conspirando com o Qataris?

On the same day the two FIFA executives compromised by a sting reporting job by The Sunday Times were suspended pending a review, another British newspaper has named who they say are the two parties under investigation for vote-trading.

The Telegraph will report Thursday morning that the Qatari committee bidding to host the 2022 World Cup are under investigation for possibly conspiring with the 2018 combined bid of Spain and Portugal, in violation of FIFA's bidding rules. If this proves to be the case, then FIFA could disqualify both bids.

While Qatar remains a longshot for 2022 against the US, Australia, Japan and South Korea, the Iberian bid is considered a rival to England's quest to upend current front-runners Russia. Were the Spanish/Portuguese bid dismissed, England could focus exclusively on the Russians, with the Benelux bid still lurking in the distance.

Fortunately, the date remains 2 December on when we find out whether Egyptian and Peruvian soccer fans will blare their vuvuzelas inbetween bites of Gates' barbecued beef brisket at Arrowhead Stadium in 2022.

Why Murdoch's Minions Might Muck Up FIFA

We found out Friday that vuvuzelas will not blare en masse from Arrowhead Stadium in 2018. Now we might have to wait a bit longer to see if Lamar's Lair will welcome the world in 2022.

FIFA executives are now saying that they might postpone their vote on who gets to hose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals, currently scheduled for 2 December, following a sting expose by The Sunday Times. In their article (complete with undercover videos that are only available via a paid subscription), two Sunday Times reporters pose as English-based lobbyists trying to buy votes for the US' 2022 bid. In particular, they entertain offers from the presidents of football federations in Nigeria and Tahiti, both of whom are on FIFA's executive board and wield clout amongst the African and Oceania confederations.

FIFA have vowed to move swiftly with their investigation, and could suspend the impugned executives as early as Wednesday. Additionally, FIFA's ethics committee are reported to also be investigating reports of collusion between bidding committees, likely concerning vote swaps. While it could be another potential embarrassment for England's hopes to host the 2018 finals, there just might be an underlying reason for this. (Please convert your old UHF antennae into tinfoil hats… now.)

The Sunday Times is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation conglomerate, the same conglomerate that owns the Sky network of channels in the UK and the Fox networks in the US and Australia. Despite building much of their sport coverage on association football (namely Fox Soccer and Soccer Plus in the US and Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday), none of these channels have ever broadcast the sporting event that's surpassed even the Summer Olympics in cumulative audience numbers.

Since 1994, coverage rights of the World Cup in the US have been owned by ABC, whose parent company Disney also owns ESPN. In England, broadcast rights are split between ITV and the BBC. However, the current partnership is due to expire after the 2014 finals in Brazil, with no current indication of either the partnership being renewed or the World Cup remaining on a government list of sporting events required to be shown on free-to-air broadcasters. In Australia, semi-public broadcaster SBS have the rights.

While a majority of major US sporting events remain on terrestrial or basic cable/satellite channels, in Britain most anything not on the government's protected list has been picked up by Sky or ESPN (which replaced Setanta Sports when the Irish-based channel collapsed last year) on a pay-to-air basis. This includes all Premier League fixtures and high-profile cricket Test series, namely The Ashes.

Were England to win the 2018 bid and either Australia or the United States to follow in 2022, News Corp. would have home turf for eight years. While their newspapers would generate a large following reporting on preparations and whipping up support by way of nationalistic headlines atop The Sun and New York Post, an even larger chunk of revenue could come to them if they had exclusive rights to broadcast coverage in all three nations. Granted, it might not go down well were Fox to pre-empt habitual coverage of Cardinals baseball and NASCAR with 22 guys in shorts chipping a ball around. But the audiences, ad revenue, and ability to force subscribers to pay to view every game would generate far more revenue and profit for News Corp.

While such an insinuation–that a media conglomerate would conspire against its nations' interests as to prevent their domestic competitors from raking in millions–would need a ton of concrete evidence to support, the circumstances seem to connect (if only within the cosy confines of a tinfoil hat). Why would The Sunday Times pose as agents acting on behalf of the US Soccer Federation to sting and expose two corrupt voters that representatives from England's bid courted early in the process? Is it possible that, knowing that the status quo for broadcasting World Cup games will remain in place, News Corp is seeking to undermine or derail the bidding process as to prevent their competition from milking the home-field advantage?

Such a scenario, even if true, would be preposterous to believe and damning if accurate. But should English-speaking nations prevail come December, I suspect the current broadcasters will quickly ink new deals to extend their coverage rights and secure the eventual windfall from broadcasting the world's biggest single-sport spectacle, much to the dismay of Murdoch's empire.

Unnecessary Wheeling and Dealing

We are just over two months away from finding out whether a swarm of blaring vuvuzelas will mix with tomahawk chops in the United States for either the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup. If England's Football Association have their way, the US shouldn't bother with 2018.

A spokesman for The FA said today he expects the US Soccer Federation to withdraw their bid for the 2018 World Cup and focus on 2022. In response to that England would, to quote the spokesman, "almost certainly withdraw from 2022." (Which is easy for him to say, as the United States remains the only non-UEFA nation still bidding on 2018, and FIFA rules now prohibit a continent from hosting consecutive cups.) However, Go USA Bid executive director David Downs issued assurances that the US remain in the hunt for either cup.

I'm not sure why England would vocally suggest the US opt out of the 2018 matchup, considering the fracas that nearly scuttled their bid four months ago. While FIFA rejected the claims of bribery made by soon-to-be-ousted FA chief Lord Triesman, it was still quite foolish to make such an accusation.

With the FIFA evaluation teams completing their tour of all nine candidate nations (or nation pairings, in the case of Spain/Portugal and Benelux), the decision rests on them. In the meantime, Americans eager to support the bid can continue to make it known by visiting the bid's Web site.

It's Not Over Yet

OK, so it turns out the best defense is actually having a defense, which means Americans can now return to watching 43 bulky cars & dozens of guys wielding maple bats make left turn after left turn after left turn.

As incredible as it is to have 12,000 people crowd into the Power & Light District and having that shown on ABC, Kansas City's image as a soccer town can improve greatly if enthusiasts of the game, the cup, and most importantly residents interested in presenting the area as a potential hub of global commerce and sport, continue to show up for the remaining games. It would help KC's image, and that of the USA bid for the 2018 and 2022 games, if fans continued to show up to watch the finals even as our side fell short in matching our best performance in World Cup history.

Safe to say I'm looking forward to watching the championship game there, and at the moment I'll hedge my bets on The Netherlands and Argentina playing for the Jules Rimet Trophy, although I'm hoping for the English to upset Argentina & avenge the "Hand of God" incident of '86, provided of course England get past Germany tomorrow.

Bringing Vuvuzelas To Arrowhead

World Cup fever is nearing its peak as the 32 nations present prepare for their final group game (or in the case of France, affix picket signs to vuvuzelas), and their respective fans are preparing for watch parties complete with their schemes for how their side can advance into the round of 16. And yes, I'm one of them, having scrawled out on the back of a lunch receipt what it'll take for the US to advance to the single-elimination bracket and maybe square off against the seemingly hapless Aussies as opposed to anyone else in Group D.

Come Wednesday morning, I'll be back to where I've watched the two first games: from the Wizards' official watch party at the Power & Light District.

This scene is from last Friday, when hundreds of soccer (er, football) fans from across the Kansas City metro converged in the open-air pavilion just across from Sprint Center to watch our thrilling come-from-behind victory thrown away by an inept Malian. It has been a wonderful experience to come together as a city, as a community of football fans, and to cheer on the Red, White & Blue when other American sport fans remain obsessed with realigning college conferences. In particular, organizers for Kansas City's watch party claim to have the nation's second-most attended watch party. And it's not just for drumming up support for this year's squad or the Wizards as they struggle through their current MLS campaign.

Kansas City, by way of the $375 million renovation project nearing completion at Arrowhead Stadium, is one of 18 finalists to be a host city in the United States' bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, beating out cross-state rival St. Louis as well as Chicago, which hosted the opening ceremonies of the 1994 World Cup. The bid committee, on the city's profile, touts KC's "long and storied cultural soccer culture", as well as ease of access via car, complete with references to tailgate parties and our extensive boulevard system. More than 20,000 people have signed USA's petition list supporting the inclusion of Kansas City in the bid, more than Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Washington. A successful friendly between the Wizards and the English Premier League's Manchester United on 25 July—the first event to take place in the renovated Arrowhead Stadium—will solidify KC's role in the USA's bid when FIFA vote in December to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals.

Right now, the USA remain the only non-European nation still in the running for 2018, as Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea are opting to pursue just for 2022. Should any of the European nations bidding (Belgium & The Netherlands, England, Russia, Spain & Portugal) be awarded the finals for 2018, then the remaining European bids will not be considered for 2022, under a new rule that requires a continent to wait at least eight years before attempting to bid for another World Cup. Despite growing speculation that a European nation will receive the 2018 finals, the growing support for football in the States, on top of solid infrastructure, ample media and advertising revenues, and state governments willing to throw into stadia millions upon millions of tax breaks, makes such a bid hard to ignore.

FIFA officials reviewing each bid will tour the States in early September, then meet in December to award the 2018 and 2022 bids. Hopefully in June 2018, the world will find themselves enjoying some grilled pork ribs and beef kebabs in the parking lots of Arrowhead, just before blaring their vuvuzelas as Guatemala take on Italy in Group D action.