With 16 months to go before the next staging of football's "flagship event," corporate sponsors are not "in a rush to have their names attached" to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. FIFA has "signed just one new top-tier level partner, China’s Wanda Group, since the last tournament in Brazil." Only Moscow-headquartered Alfa Bank has agreed to be a regional World Cup supporter, "which has replaced national supporter as the cheapest level of sponsorship." By the same stage in the tournament cycle for Brazil, "almost all the agreements were concluded." Reasons behind companies’ "reluctance to sign" may include the $150M cost of the most expensive deal and the "fallout" from FIFA’s '15 corruption scandal, according to Lagardère CEO Andrew Georgiou. He said, "I think compliance issues are affecting brands and I think the price points are affecting brands." He added that further trouble "is around the corner." FIFA President Gianni Infantino "convinced members to expand the World Cup" to 48 teams from 32 for the '26 tournament and beyond. Georgiou said that the expansion "risks diluting the quality of the competition, and makes the usually two-year long regional qualification programs devalued for television companies" (BLOOMBERG, 2/20).