Confidential To FIFA: Philly (And Indeed, The United States) Does Not Deserve The World Cup
You may have heard by now that our fair city was named yesterday one of 18 finalist U.S. cities to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022, as a result of an online poll at gousabid.com, which pits U.S. cities against each other in the World Cup bidding process. Now, a few things about this: While we’re super-stoked for the Philadelphia Union season to kick off, and hope all the fans of “The Beautiful Game” who show up at Philebrity Salon each week at the 700 won’t mind us saying so, Philly just doesn’t deserve to win this bid, for the same reason that no other city in America does, either: We just haven’t proved ourselves as soccer fans. Without a doubt, the World Cup is the biggest, most-watched sporting event in the world. The people of the other countries currently in the bidding process for 2018 and 2022 — Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Japan, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Korea Republic, Indonesia, and Qatar — know this. As Americans (and Philadelphians), do we, really? No. We don’t. We have a long way to go and a lot of catching up to do when it comes to adopting soccer, the world’s game — and we have a sneaking suspicion that Philadelphia will lead in that process and become a great soccer town — but we all need to earn our bones first, no? So give it to Qatar: It sounds a hell of a lot cooler and people probably actually care about this there.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
The 1994 edition is still the best-attended Cup ever, despite subsequent expansion of the tournament. USA averaged 16k more people per game than Germany 4 years ago.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
How can you say this? 1994 sowed the seeds, and a WC in the USA for 2018 or 2022 would be coming full circle. WC 2006 was very popular here, and this summer there will be even more interest in South Africa. I can’t tell you how many here followed Euro 2008, a tournament in which we have no vested interest. And last summer’s Confederations cup and the gold cup match at Lincoln Financial really made people stand up and take notice. We are ready for this, Philadelphia is ready for it, and we will be even more primed in a decade. Bring Copa do Mundo back to the USA!
January 13th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
The local economy clearly cannot benefit from hosting this event, its not as if we are in a major recession or anything….
January 13th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
yeah. please do some research before dismissing something like this.
and italy can still suck a dong.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Guys-
Of course it’s going to be “popular,” it’s the goddamned World Cup. What I am saying is, others deserve it more than us.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Dear Philebrity,
Please stop writing about sports. Thanks.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
one: can you explain why others deserve it more than us? isnt the united states the melting pot of the world? more expats live here than anywhere else. dont they also deserve to see their national teams play in person?
two: what spaghetti_eddie said
January 13th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
To Julia, the American economy will still be in a recession in 10 years?
January 13th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
@mannyd:
one: Everyone in the world deserves everything more than we do. We’re fucking Americans.
two: No.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Beasley Reece on CBS3 needs to stick to American football. When I heard their coverage about this on the 6:00 news last night he mispronounced FIFA. sigh…
I’m with Philebs on this one.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
except for south africa more tickets for the world cup have been sold in the u.s. than other nations. at one point more tickets had been sold here than england and germany combined.
January 13th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
from wikipedia:
The 1994 World Cup holds the record for the highest attendance in World Cup history. It was also the highest-attended single sport event in U. S. history. The average attendance of nearly 69,000 shattered a record that had stood since 1950, due to the bigger capacities of the American stadiums compared to those of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition to 32 teams in 1998.
Sure, we’re behind on the footy curve, but numbers don’t lie. Yet, you insist on taking the self-loathing stance that we don’t “deserve” this? Um, no.
January 13th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
@parks:
That was as of last summer, too! As of May 29, 2009, 93,300 tickets had been sold in the U.S. and ABC/ESPN and Univision are paying $325 million to broadcast the 2010 and 2014 World Cups domestically, which also tops list of broadcast fees FIFA is collecting for their tournament:
http://www.cbssports.com/worldcup/story/11800273/
Don’t worry, Philebrity, pitchers and catchers are packing their bags. You can then go back to poking fun at Cole Hamels’ lifestyle choices.
January 13th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
AMERICA FUCK YEAH!
January 13th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
@ tips / Joey / Ruth / Philebrity / whoever…don’t forget, (and I mean this in the most unironic way possible), WE are America…you, me, all the good people we know personally and from afar…don’t cede America and who it is and what it is to short-sighted, xenophobic, non-thinking yokels…that is too easy. Of course we deserve it (as if that had any bearing on anything…the day shit starts getting doled out based on whether or not it’s deserved, well, strap yourself in ’cause up will be down and down will be up).
January 13th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
ah…1994…the Clinton years..when everyone had money…we were on our way being debt free…popular music wasn’t filled with 15 year olds….
January 13th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
@ tips. So who DOES deserve to host the World Cup then?? And, yeah, agree with Nittany, please keep your “sports” coverage to your coverage of Cole’s never-ending bizarre behavior. I much prefer reading you pining for your Douche-a-Q’s of days past at the exclusive Rag Flats than your half-assed sports commentary.
January 13th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
I’m with Philebs too.
Just because this country can do something doesn’t mean it should, and Joey is absolutely right about other nations both wanting and deserving this more. Sure, the U.S. might buy a shitload of tickets but that’s probably because our cities are bigger; it’s certainly not because of our undying passion for soccer. Also, I read that there would be 12 cities hosting the Cup if it is in The States. Of course U.S. games would sell out, if they were even played in Philadelphia, but would people buy tickets to see only non-U.S. games?
Put this in a country like Portugal and the whole nation would give it’s whole-hearted attention for the duration. Isn’t that better than the passing faux-fanaticism we’d give it?
January 13th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Hispanic Americans, who by and large adore soccer, alone will number at least 60 million people by 2018; that demographic alone surpasses the population of most countries. Throw in a good number of soccer loving Asian Americans and non-Hispanic soccer fans, who are continuously growing, and you’ve got a pretty large number of Americans that are going to be watching the World Cup pretty closely.
January 13th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
You’re overlooking the fact that many of those attending the games are travelling from other countries TO the States, because they want to. What’s automatically bad about that? It’s not about blind flag-waving.
January 13th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
This is it…This is the straw that broke the camels back..As long as I’ve read this site, few posts have really made me want to join and comment but, this, this strikes near and dear to my heart…
The few things that have really gotten to me, I just brushed off as my typical reaction to the hipster, snarky,”nothing that the large majority of people like can possibly be good”uber-pretentious vibe that permeates this site…I said “ahh it is what it is” and I went back to my everyday cycle of self-loathing, work, and drink…
But to say the USA does not deserve the World Cup again? Are you high??? Not only as was previously mentioned was the 94 Cup a great success, but the sport has grown by leaps and bounds here the last decade…Allow me…
1. ESPN 2 and Fox Soccer Channel have great ratings for all their broadcasts of the EPL, La Liga, etc…
2. The Gold Cup matches at the Linc were well-attended last summer…
3. Tir Na Nog was jammed a few months back on a a weekday afternoon for the USA Mexico WC Qualifier, as they were one of the few bars in the area able to show the match due to Mexican TV companies buying the rights..This is in addition to the regular big crowds they draw (along with the Dark Horse and Fados) for EPL matches, qualifiers, Champions League, etc..Of course most of you would never show your face in that “breeder bar” as your Hipster Lord & Masters referred to Tir Na Nog as as part of that moronic Snuggie Bar Crwl nonsense from a months back…Mayhap if Johnny Brenda’s or KFN showed matches you’d watch? But I digress…
4. DBritt, Not only were the matches at USA 94 involving the US, Ireland, Italy, and other known powerhouses packed but so were stadiums for lesser-known teams.The Saudi’s 2-1 win over Morocco at Giants Stadium had over 70,000 in attendance. Problems existed during the tourney,(heat, distance between venues, etc) but no World Cup goes off completely hitch free…
5. The selection of host nations is never a case of “who deserves it more.” Yes,(again you, DBritt) the Portugese would be great hosts, especially if they co hosted with Spain…But FIFA is all about where they can make the most money…”passing faux fanaticism” is a cute phrase, and yeah footie will never be the #1 sport in this country but FIFA see dollar signs, not attempts to boost a country’s collective self-esteem…
6. Congratulations again, citizens of Philebrity…You finally got me in…Now, I may never leave…And I just can’t wait till someone traces the IP address I registered from, boy howdy will your skinny jeans be in a twist when you see where I work!! The accusations, baseless as they are when it comes to me, will fly!! I shall be lumped in with the rest of them! Those awful, “white collar breeders” I’m almost giddy at the thought..
January 13th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
only countries with a national healthcare plan should be allowed to host the world cup.