00:00We spoke with Bloomberg Opinion columnist Adam Minter to talk about if he thought that there were any real benefits
00:05to the U.S. hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
00:09Right now, the best we can say is that the jury is kind of out on this.
00:14You know, if we just look at one of the benefits that everybody touted, tourism benefit, the numbers are running
00:19behind.
00:20Hoteliers are saying that for the forecast, they're 80 percent behind the forecasted room occupancy rates that they were given
00:27months ago.
00:28That's not good. Airbnbs are facing the same situation.
00:32You know, if the tourists aren't coming, the economic projections surrounding what the tourists were supposed to spend beyond just
00:38the hotels aren't going to come true either.
00:41So at least on the economic development side, it's not there.
00:44Can you talk about the whole concept behind, you know, why host cities do this?
00:49I mean, there's the infrastructure boost, right?
00:51There's the reason they can do it is because they want to improve their image, right?
00:54So for the U.S., I mean, we have the infrastructure, we have the tourism industry, we've built up soccer.
01:02Soccer is not like how it used to be.
01:03It's really become something big here.
01:05What? I don't understand what the benefit is.
01:07Is it for small businesses?
01:08They do a lot of these, like, different, you know, festivals, watch parties, things like that.
01:12Right. I mean, that was always the implicit bargain.
01:14As you said, there's infrastructure, there's an image boost.
01:17And when those things are all taken care of, when the U.S. already has its own domestic soccer league
01:21with Lionel Messi, what's left?
01:23It's accessibility.
01:25That means, you know, regular folks, families can go to the matches, in theory.
01:30And if you can't get a ticket to the match because it's unaffordable, because, you know, some of these tickets,
01:34like to the opening U.S. match against Paraguay, they're starting at around $1,900 U.S. per ticket.
01:40If you can't do that, you can at least go to a fan festival, which is the idea FIFA asks
01:46the host cities to set up these big festivals where anybody can come and watch a match with everybody else.
01:52But even those aren't quite living up to the accessibility promises.
01:56You know, in a lot of places, they may be free.
01:58Some of the cities offer them for free.
02:00But then, of course, they've got the premium seating.
02:02And some of that premium seating at the free fan fest starts around $200.
02:06And even the free fan fest, for example, in Los Angeles, it's a $10 admission fee.
02:11So this promise that this is sort of the people's festival, the people's tournament, isn't really turning out to be
02:17the people's tournament.
02:18It's not accessible to everybody else.
02:20And even that side of the bargain isn't coming true.
02:22Well, that's what I want to go back to what you were talking about at the beginning, about, you know,
02:25Airbnb bookings are down.
02:26The hotel bookings aren't where they need to be.
02:28Do we know why is it a combination of how much this is costing in a time when a lot
02:32of people, not just in the U.S., but around the world,
02:34they're feeling the economic squeeze, there's also this visa issue.
02:37It's not a time when a lot of people from some of these countries where their teams are playing are
02:41going to either be able to get a visa
02:43or might be nervous about getting that visa and traveling in and out of security in the U.S.,
02:48just given the uncertainty of immigration right now.
02:51How much are those factors weighing in?
02:53Those are factors.
02:54And another factor that we can't talk enough about, really, is simply the price of tickets.
02:59One of the things you're seeing is the fan groups, the supporter groups in places like Europe,
03:03they're complaining that they can't afford to fly to the U.S., stay in a hotel, and above all, buy
03:10a ticket into a match
03:11because, you know, they can be thousands of dollars.
03:14And FIFA is controlling the supply.
03:16They're controlling parts of the secondhand market.
03:18So that makes it very hard for, you know, these folks who, say, live in Ireland or the U.K.
03:24or Germany or wherever it is,
03:26who would, this would be their once every four-year big shebang trip to afford it.
03:31They can't.
03:31So you're also losing that.
03:32And by losing that, you know, from a U.S. perspective, again, you're losing tourists and you're losing the image
03:38boost.
03:38The opportunity for these folks, middle-class folks who are, you know, on a splurge coming to your country and
03:43saying,
03:43hey, this isn't so bad.
03:44This isn't what we've been reading about.
03:46You know, it was actually a friendly reception.
03:47So, again, it's another sort of broken part of the bargain, and it's got that international component to it.
03:52I'm wondering why are the prices so much higher this time around?
03:55We have some sound from the Atlanta mayor talking about this.
03:58We're ready from a safety and security perspective, from making sure that people can get around, get through,
04:03and get to the games and matches.
04:05But we also wanted the community to benefit.
04:07Everybody can't afford those expensive tickets.
04:10Everybody can't go to the match every day.
04:12But can they go to a fan fest?
04:13Can they go to a watch party?
04:15Can they get some cultural exchanges with the people that are going to be coming here?
04:19Can our small businesses thrive?
04:21So that's why I wanted it to be with the community and not to the community.
04:25So that hits on what you were just talking about.
04:27Is there a reason that tickets are so much more this time around?
04:30Yeah.
04:30FIFA wants to make a lot of money off this tournament.
04:32They've been very up front.
04:33Okay, there we go.
04:36They've been very up front.
04:37They control the ticket pricing, not the local organizers, not the local governments.
04:41FIFA does.
04:41And they've been very up front that the U.S. is the world's largest sports and entertainment market.
04:47And they are coming to take advantage of that.
04:49And, you know, they will also at the same time make the argument we're just pricing things where the market
04:54is.
04:55And there's a market for people willing to pay, you know, thousands of dollars for a ticket.
04:59You know, we're seeing it with, you know, the NBA finals.
05:03We've seen it with the Super Bowl.
05:04We see it with these mega events when they come to the U.S.
05:07So their argument is we're just trying to – we're helpless.
05:11We're only playing with the market.
05:13Well, I have to think because this kind of brings up, you know, we host FIFA World Cup, but we've
05:17also hosted the Olympics.
05:19So what's the difference between, let's say, the U.S. hosting the Olympics versus hosting the World Cup, let's say,
05:24benefit-wise?
05:25Yeah, I don't think that there is much of one at this point.
05:28I mean, you know, with Los Angeles, which is going to have our next Olympics, and with Salt Lake City,
05:34which will have the next Winter Olympics,
05:36both of them were chosen precisely because they already have the infrastructure in place.
05:40You know, so there's not going to be a real infrastructure benefit to those cities.
05:44You know, the image benefit, you know, the U.S. is already a sports destination.
05:48So then it becomes the same, you know, argument again.
05:51Is there an economic benefit?
05:53And one of the things that study after study shows is regardless of what these economic projections that we always
05:58see with these mega events,
05:59those numbers are never met.
06:01Oftentimes what happens is, sure, you may get an influx of tourists,
06:05but that just means that the tourists who are going to come at that time anyway aren't coming,
06:09and it all relatively balances out in the end.
06:12So what are you going to do?
06:14You're going to, at least in theory, make these events accessible.
06:17And if you've tried to get, you know, Los Angeles 28 Olympics tickets like I have,
06:24I was in, you know, the lottery or whatever it was, they're extremely expensive.
06:28When I finally got in the door and saw what the prices were, I said, you know, I think I'm
06:31going to hold off on this.
06:32So this is a familiar dynamic.
06:34All right, we'll have to see how crowded those stadiums are and who's in those very, very expensive seats.
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