2018 World Cup Bids

[thesquirrel]

if you guys check on wikipedia.org you will see the list of all possible candidates. my opinions follow

Australia: Stadia second only to england and maybe the US. the mcg (100,000), stadium aus (83,000, up to 90+) are the two major ones. a 70,000 seater in perth which is likely to be built soon, brisbane and adelaide have 50+ stadiums, and melbourne and sydney have big enough reserve stadiums. the aus population and growth of "soccer" in aus means it stands a chance, with newcastle, townsville, the gold coast, tasmania and canberra all will have much larger populations in 2018, particularly the gc and townsville. and don't worry, in australia, you watch the sport, no matter what it is. melbourne and sydney have been rated the top two sporting capitals of the world respectively.

England: stadiums big enough, plenty of public support, 52 years since the last world cup, the birthplace of the game... it has everything going for it, you don't include crap weather. the likely favoutites for the award.

USA: has the stadia but little else. little public support, the more recent holding over there mean it may as well stop trying.

Canada: possible, a growing game, some of the stadia, but things like a lesser public acceptance and synthethic pitches dim hopes.

China: may be an outsider, but that guy they call s.blatter has shown a sort of bias towards china, however unfairly. it has the stadia, especially after the 2008 olympics. but, the chinese super league has the same atendance levels in norway, a place with 0.5% of the population. is the major sport in china but sporting culture in china is very rare. think ahead to 2022 guys.

in summary, engalnd will probably win, leaving maybe aus and china competing for 2022. then wo next? canada 2026? italy 2030? tell me what you think about my wild rant

 

[Kev]

Apart from missing out that Sepp hates England that's pretty accurate
It would also be Mid Summer in the UK so the Weather should be ok. It wont be so hot that the games are too slow (As has happened in recent World Cups).

 

[thesquirrel]

july in australia spells winter, no real advertisment for the climate. plus it will be fighting fot the attention and groundspace of the AFL/NRL seasons. and yes, fifa needs a change of head. mr blatter is a bad old man and a well known liar to australians, assuring us that oceania was going to have an automatic place for 2006, after years of seemingly endless rounds of two leg qualifiers until we lost to an international heavyweight who just had to pull their heads in. no fair.

 

[etho11]

bring it down under to Australia we pull the biggest crowds and pull the biggest money

 

[thesquirrel]

money, probably not, as for some premier league teams an adult ticket can cost 40 pounds or 100 aussie dollars for the cheapest seat. that idea is laughable over here, where you can walk to the game and get in with a bit of loose change. the a-league grand final tickets started from 35 dollars. so money wise no, but then again we're not here to make millions but rather enjoy a game.

 

[Sureshot]

England: stadiums big enough, plenty of public support, 52 years since the last world cup, the birthplace of the game... it has everything going for it, you don't include crap weather. the likely favoutites for the award.

Barring the North (ooh dirty word) the weather in England is very warm in the summer, if we had a World Cup it'd be 25-30 on most days.

 

[Kev]

money, probably not, as for some premier league teams an adult ticket can cost 40 pounds or 100 aussie dollars for the cheapest seat. that idea is laughable over here, where you can walk to the game and get in with a bit of loose change. the a-league grand final tickets started from 35 dollars. so money wise no, but then again we're not here to make millions but rather enjoy a game.

Its basic supply and demand that. People are willing to pay that. It can be incredibly hard to get a ticket (legally) for a game at a top Premiership club, the grounds are full every game. I'm sure if the sport was more popular there this would also be the case.

 

[aussie1st]

Some reason the Aussie domestic games for any outdoor sport hardly ever sell out (don't know about AFL though).
Last time round for the RWC they gave the NT Japan as their home team and I think they gave away free tickets for Japan vs another minnow so that the game was full. Probably could do the same thing for this WC if we can't full the games up.

 

[thesquirrel]

well, some one would be prepared to pay for a ticket for a world cup match, so need real need to bother with giving them away, although that sounds good.

as for supply and demand i guess one of the major factors ticket wise would be that in england, as far as most people would know there is only the one sport you would go and watch, unless you include the little ones like the county cricket and the two rugby codes. similar to the usa where there may be as much as four different sports like baseball, gridion, basketball and ice hockey, but usually one or two teams representing each city, so no wonder why they charge so much.

and for the record 25-30 degrees is probaboly not very hot, compared to many warmer regions, but they were almost the same conditions at germany last year and players wouldn't mind that

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Spanish are racists even the fat coach and ther enot afraid to show it, anyway I think Germany was amazing last year the atmophere was so great, I'd say either here or pfff not many places are there I would say France but it ony happened there a decade ago, maybe USA is a goot bet...

 

[MLSfan22]

Agreed Kevin - In the long run this is punishing football fans that have to goa large distance to see their team play in a country that doesn't care. It's all very well saying everyone deserves it and that it will spark interest......Look at the USA - it did nothing.

Few facts that you might find interesting:

* The 1994 World Cup was the best attended (68,991 per game) and one of the most profitable events in WC history. And, that happened at a time when soccer, in my opinion, was half as popular here as it is now.

* It literally started MLS (part of a condition to host the event), a league that has averaged over 15,000 fans per game despite keeping the business very small. In the last few years, 7 new stadiums were built, 7 new investor groups joined the league, and it has gone from paying to broadcast games to getting paid by 4 different TV networks in recent long term deals. A reserve league has been created, and solid foundation is being laid for the league to stand on and thrive.

* The Women's World Cup 5 years after that averaged over 37,000 per game, and the final game was watched by close to 40 million Americans.

* TV ratings have increased with each World Cup (not counting Japan/Korea '02 which was televised in the early morning.) Last year's final between Italy and France had higher ratings (17 million viewers) than the NBA finals, hockey and baseball finals!

* US TV rights for the next two World Cups were sold for $425 million, which makes it the largest (or the 2nd largest, not sure) WC rights contract for a single country. The amount is more than double of what the last two events sold for.

 

[thesquirrel]

really good points there, but someting tells me the US really aren't in the running for this one. the 94 WC was almost needed in the USA to grow the game, and it worked to a certain extent. but it isn't hard to have the biggest tv rights to a sporting event if you are the 3rd bigest country in the world and the richest. dunno, still just doesn't feel right.