FIFA "plans to pay out" $200M in total bonuses to its national members and confederations from its World Cup revenue of an estimated $4.5B, according to the AP. FIFA Finance Dir Markus Kattner said that each of the 209 member countries will get $250,000 this month and should get a further $500,000 early next year. The planned bonuses are a $200,000 raise "compared to the payments made after the 2010 World Cup" (AP, 6/11). REUTERS' Anthony Boadle wrote FIFA defended itself on Tuesday from criticism that "it is making big bucks from the most costly World Cup in history at the expense of the Brazilian people." FIFA said in a statement that it has covered the entire $2B operational costs of the World Cup "with money from the sale of World Cup TV and marketing rights, and not a cent will be footed by Brazilian taxpayers." The tournament will cost Brazil 25.8B reais ($11.5B) "in investments in stadiums, airports, urban transport and other infrastructure improvements." FIFA said that "it was Brazil's choice to build 12 stadiums instead of opting for eight or 10, and investments include infrastructure not directly linked to the World Cup that will benefit the country for years to come" (REUTERS, 6/10). WILTSHIRE BUSINESS reported PricewaterhouseCoopers has turned to "econometrics" in a bid to determine success and failure at the FIFA World Cup. PwC economist Dan Broadfield said, “In previous analyses of the Olympic Games, we found a strong link between medal totals and the size of the economy. But no such relationship has been found for the World Cup.” The result of analysing all the key variables is a "PwC World Cup Index." This clearly indicates that Brazil is favorite this year, "due to footballing tradition and home advantage; but Germany, Argentina and Spain will push them hard" (WILTSHIRE BUSINESS, 6/11). CBC's Pete Evans wrote College of the Holy Cross Economics Professor Victor Matheson said that although some countries and cities have managed to profit from well-run major sports events such as the World Cup and the Olympics, they are "far from the norm." Matheson: "The economic benefit is typically zero." Matheson said even when there is a modest gain, "it's not enough to justify the price tag" (CBC, 6/10).
