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Where do they get these people? Let me get this straight. The World Cup is being held in Brazil. Prior to this tournament there was a ban on consumption of alcohol inside stadia in Brazil, but FIFA insisted that the ban be overturned because one of their sponsors is a brand of beer and their contractual relationship with the brewer of this beer required that it be on sale inside the stadia during the World Cup. Fans at these matches have apparently been buying this beer and getting unbelievably drunk. The impressive cogitative processes operating in the brains of senior FIFA officials are now just starting to deduce that there might have been a reason for this ban in the first place.
Soon, Russia is authoritarian and corrupt. Also, it is hot in Qatar in summer.
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Great photo and caption in the linked article!
These mega sporting events are beginning to crack at the seams. The big rich organizations like the Olympic committee have been eating the seed corn. Apparently almost no-one wants to host the Winter Olympics
http://deadspin.com/nobody-wants-to-host-the-2022-olympics-1582151092
And from the sublime to the ridiculous, someone got in trouble for wearing the wrong underpants:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/worldcup/world-cup-2014-neymar-investigated-for-wrong-underwear-choice-by-fifa-9565966.html
Really, you can’t make this stuff up.
That is hilarious, Fraser. As you said, you can’t make this stuff up. The Onion must be going out of business soon; how can it compete with reality?
From my perspective FIFA is almost as corrupt as the IOC. I hope they both crash and burn.
Those stadium people screwed up. They should’ve came to the USA, we would’ve shown them how to do it. At American arenas and stadiums they don’t sell full strength beer (4.6% to 4.8% alcohol content). They sell specially made “stadium beer” that is 3.2% alcohol. At stadium prices, around $8 per beer, it would take at least $100 to get drunk.
I have no problem with the IOC or FIFA awarding these events, which they own, to the highest bidder. If the internal voting procedures encourage payments and inducements to voters, that is really a matter for them as companies to deal with. If you can call it corruption, it’s really a pretty low-grade level of it.
The major problem with these companies is the quasi-diplomatic immunity they enjoy.
who in his right mind would drink that piss?
Michael! Have you no respect for the sanctity of a business contract?
Oh, and reality is real.
The “contracts” that FIFA and the IOC sign with the host countries of their events are often extraordinary. “The host country agrees to change the law to comply with FIFA’s” policies or other agreements. In some cases they actually agree to change the legal system. (See the “World Cup Courts” that were set up at the last World Cup in South Africa). It’s absurd, and countries should stop agreeing to these things. The trouble is that politicians will agree to anything when it comes to trying to outbid other cities or countries.
I think we may have just about reached the limits of this, though. Every potential bidder that is not an authoritarian dictatorship was so appalled by Sochi that only authoritarian dictatorships are still bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics. It will be interesting to see who bids for the 2024 Summer games, and particularly the 2026 World Cup. A number of respectable countries (England, the USA, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain) made bids for the 2016 or 2020 Cups. All of these these countries were lied to and generally treated with contempt as FIFA gave these events to Russia and Qatar. As a consequence, they may be reluctant to bid next time.
Both FIFA and the IOC have systems that are hopelessly corrupted. There is so much money in play, and there are so many opportunities for it to pass under the table…
This isn’t helped by the political necessity (especially for the IOC) to involve representatives from countries where corruption is daily business. They expect to be bribed – that’s the system they know.
There’s no way the organizations can clean themselves up – too many of the people who would have to implement the cleanup are themselves on the take. The best thing that could happen would be for both organizations to be disbanded and replaced by new organizations with charters designed from the ground up to be corruption-resistant.
David Crawford July 3, 2014 at 5:01 pm:
At American arenas and stadiums they don’t sell full strength beer (4.6% to 4.8% alcohol content). They sell specially made “stadium beer” that is 3.2% alcohol.
In Chicago, the White Sox have a stand selling “Beers of the World” (Guiness, Stella Artois, Pilsner Urquell, some U.S. crafts) in original cans and bottles. AFAIK, these are the same as sold in liquor stores. (However, the server pours the beer into a light plastic cup and keeps the container, so it can’t be thrown at the field.) The price is stiff, plus no beer sales after the seventh inning.
Miller Park in Milwaukee (home of the Brewers) sells regular beer.
There are some venues that sell 3.2% beer: Petco Park in San Diego, any venue in Oklahoma or Utah, some colleges, but they are exceptions.
Of course this is what happens when we let socialists/communists have power. It has long been my contention that socialists/communists should never be given access to public money and power. Socialists/communists have a mental affliction and though some might pity them, none should accommodate them.
In Australian cricket grounds, they often sell low strength beer only in the cheap sections. People in the more expensive seats (where there is much less history of crowd misbehaviour) can still buy full strength stuff. It varies from stadium stadium, though. There are different rules in different places, and different laws in different states.
John, honestly I think it is more what happens when you have politicians and civil servants in power. There is no need for them to be socialists or communists.