Banned FIFA President Sepp Blatter believes that the organization's U.S. sponsors "are bluffing in their repeated calls for change at the organization," according to Joshua Robinson of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The American companies have "stopped short of direct threats to pull out." But Blatter said that that day "isn’t near." Blatter: "Companies, commercial partners are queuing up to get in. If the Americans want to leave, others will come. But they don’t want to get out. ... They won’t leave.” Robinson notes several top U.S. sponsors, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Visa, have "repeatedly called for reforms in the seven months since FIFA executives were hit with allegations of widespread corruption." Several sponsors in October called for Blatter "to resign, but none of those sponsors have ended their FIFA marketing deals." A McDonald's spokesperson said, "Mr. Blatter’s comments do not reflect the gravity of the situation for FIFA and we previously called for him to step down. FIFA must now urgently implement robust and meaningful reforms with appropriate independent oversight.” Coca-Cola and Visa both declined to comment (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/23).
