FIFA said that the North American bid to host the '26 World Cup "outscored its rival Morocco as both passed an inspection of their facilities and infrastructure," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. The joint U.S., Canada and Mexico bid "was given an overall score of four out of five by a five-man FIFA task force which evaluated the two bids while Morocco was awarded 2.7 in a 220-page report." A minimum score of two "was required to stay in the contest." The hosts for the event "will be chosen at the FIFA Congress on June 13." Forecast revenues were $7.2B for a tournament in Morocco and $14.3B for a North American tournament, which the report said gave the latter a "strong advantage" (REUTERS, 6/1). The AP's Harris & Dunbar noted FIFA judged Morocco's proposals "to be 'high-risk' in three areas and offered significant praise" for the North American bid (AP, 6/1). In N.Y., Das & Draper wrote this assessment "raises serious concerns about Morocco’s ability to host" the '26 event. The North American bid "received extremely high marks for infrastructure." The "only risk component on which it scored lower than Morocco was 'government support.'" FIFA has "serious concerns about Morocco’s infrastructure." Both bids "were rated 'medium' on human rights, with little said about Morocco's problems." Still, surviving the inspection process is a "major victory for Morocco." For months, Moroccan officials "had feared" that FIFA's inspecting committee "might move to end their bid on technical grounds." Now, the question is "how much weight FIFA's voters will give to the technical evaluations" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/2).
|
FIFA COMMITTEE SCORING FOR POTENTIAL '26 WORLD CUP HOST (OUT OF 5)
|
| SCORE |
NORTH AMERICA
|
MOROCCO
|
| Overall |
4.0
|
2.7
|
|
INFRASTRUCTURE
|
| Stadiums |
4.1
|
2.3
|
| Team facilities |
3.7
|
2.9
|
| Accommodation |
3.9
|
2.6
|
| Transport |
4.3
|
2.1
|
| Telecommunications |
4.0
|
3.5
|
| Fan festival locations |
3.6
|
3.2
|
|
COMMERCIAL
|
| Organizing costs |
2.0
|
3.0
|
| Media and marketing |
4.9
|
4.6
|
| Ticketing and hospitality |
5.0
|
2.4
|
THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING: This year's World Cup begins in just 10 days in Russia, and ESPN's Bob Ley is wondering "where the heck is the buzz!" Ley said, “When the U.S. failed to qualify last fall, the question had been asked, ‘What will be the cost for U.S. Soccer?’ Now you’re starting to not feel that cost in attention, in buzz, in interest.” He added, "We got a lot of good buddies over there at Fox, and they’ll do a heck of a job televising it. But there just is no buzz. Maybe it’ll pick up, but right now, no buzz” (“OTL,” ESPN, 6/1).
