[Bluesummers]

wow russia and qatar? Fifa have lost their minds (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)


There were better options lol and they decide to hold the tournament in two of the worst potential locations.

[MizNelson]

I don't know about you, but Qatar hosting the World Cup is like the Oscars being held in a community theater.

[milanbuf88]

Exactly.

To be honest guys, you say it's all about money, but if it weren't, you could do the friggin' thing in a single city. You just need two stadia and a few balls. It's football, not rocket science.

The US world cup would have gotten bigger attendances, yes, but the Qatar world cup will give a chance to thousands of people of witnessing a world cup... And that's worth it. And while I didn't mean that in a financial sense, it makes lots of sense financially as well.

Cheers to Russia and Qatar!

How can you possibly argue that this makes financial sense? Qatar has none of the prerequisites necessary to host an event of this magnitude. NONE. This world cup will amount to some oil baron sheikh pissing away BILLIONS of dollars to build stadiums and other infrastructure which will be damn near useless the moment the world cup final leaves the building. If by "makes lots of financial sense" you mean "the bribe money was worth allowing some incredibly fucking rich billionaires to mess around with the world's favorites sporting event and have it in their back yard" then you are spot on.

How will Qatar possibly fill the stadiums?? There are less than 2 million people living in the entire country. Its not like they have to means to provide for a massive tourist influx, which they won't even get btw. The country has one, yes ONE, commercial airport! Are you kidding me?? New York City and a 50 mile area surrounding it could do a better job hosting the world cup if they were forced to start it next week!

Quote: The US world cup would have gotten bigger attendances, yes, but the Qatar world cup will give a chance to thousands of people of witnessing a world cup... And that's worth it.

Don't give me that crap. Giving the world cup in ANY other location would give the opportunity to MILLIONS of people to watch it. I'm from the US but I don't care, give it to Aus they are certainly deserving, hell give it to Japan or Korea at least they have legitimate bids. Giving the world cup to Qatar is a joke plain and simple. If FIFA wants to take bribes and give billionaires the world cup to play with fine but at least be honest that that's what you're doing. "Making new friends" my ***. Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining.

This post has been edited by milanbuf88: Dec 3 2010, 07:04 AM

[servbot]

One airport??? Wow that is going to be a logistical nightmare, even more than any of the other previously mentioned issues.

I did a quick check on hotel capacity and found this:

Qatar is targeting a 400 percent rise in hotel capacity by 2012 with the addition of a whopping $17bn in investment over the next five years, according to the Qatar Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (QTEA).

The plan includes construction of luxury hotels, resorts and other leisure facilities, with a total of up to 29,000 luxury rooms by 2012. A total of 80,000 hotel rooms in various ranges will be available by 2016.

Even with this massive increase, it will take much, much more to be able to handle the influx of tourism. My job has to do with planning an annual convention for 30,000 people, and flights in and out of the smaller (i.e. not NYC, Chi, LA or Vegas) cities we go to get completely sold out, as do hotel rooms in the city. I'm sure there will be way, way more than 30,000 people coming in for a World Cup, so there airport will be absolute chaos and the hotels, even with their recent planned upgrades, will be terribly overbooked.

Although it's just an assumption, unless Qatar is also going to attract other large-scale events/tourist increases before the WC, the entire service sector (restaurants, etc) will be completely overwhelmed, as even if they have the facilities, the workers will not be prepared to handle such sudden large volume.

This post has been edited by servbot: Dec 3 2010, 07:35 AM

[milanbuf88]

One airport??? Wow that is going to be a logistical nightmare, even more than any of the other previously mentioned issues.

I did a quick check on hotel capacity and found this:



Even with this massive increase, it will take much, much more to be able to handle the influx of tourism. My job has to do with planning an annual convention for 30,000 people, and flights in and out of the smaller (i.e. not NYC, Chi, LA or Vegas) cities we go to get completely sold out, as do hotel rooms in the city. I'm sure there will be way, way more than 30,000 people coming in for a World Cup, so there airport will be absolute chaos and the hotels, even with their recent planned upgrades, will be terribly overbooked.

Although it's just an assumption, unless Qatar is also going to attract other large-scale events/tourist increases before the WC, the entire service sector (restaurants, etc) will be completely overwhelmed, as even if they have the facilities, the workers will not be prepared to handle such sudden large volume.

Yup. One airport. From wikipedia: Doha International Airport (IATA: DOH, ICAO: OTBD) (Arabic: مطار الدوحة الدولي‎) is the only commercial airport in Qatar.

I totally agree with you. There are so many things that go into hosting an event as large as the world cup. If it is even possible for them to solve all of these issues it will still cost billions and billions of dollars and it will be done on the backs of an increased number of poor migrant workers shipped in from south asia.

[Jack Sparrow]

OK. There's a lot of people here who are unfamiliar with the middle east and how it works I think. Not to mention the grip football has over there. Right now as we speak, the best event management firms in the world, the best engineers and architects and the best PR firms are probably being negotiated HUGE contracts.

As for Qatar's 2 million people, oh it's not a Qatari World Cup. It will be pan Middle East. They'll fill the stadium themselves even if every single European were to boycott the World Cup. And the small dip in tourism will be easily made up by the awesome timing which suits just about every country in Asia when it comes to televison. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I'll no longer have to stay up till 2.30 am to watch a match.

If 612 million dollars were bid just to telecast India cricket matches...I think there will be quite some money coming in from Asia.

EDIT: Qatar's Plans Hmm...looks like I was onto something when I assumed. Barring a political turmoil of some sort, I think it will be a better world cup than the Russian one.

[LaPalma]

Right now I'm in the mood to knock Sepp Blatter around.

Exactly.

To be honest guys, you say it's all about money, but if it weren't, you could do the friggin' thing in a single city. You just need two stadia and a few balls. It's football, not rocket science.

The US world cup would have gotten bigger attendances, yes, but the Qatar world cup will give a chance to thousands of people of witnessing a world cup... And that's worth it. And while I didn't mean that in a financial sense, it makes lots of sense financially as well.

Cheers to Russia and Qatar!

It's not rocket science, it's more complicated my friend. The WC is the second biggest sports event on this planet. You need volunteers, public transportation, security, entertainment, food, drinks, hotels etc...
The WC is not some friends meeting for a match.

OK. There's a lot of people here who are unfamiliar with the middle east and how it works I think. Not to mention the grip football has over there. Right now as we speak, the best event management firms in the world, the best engineers and architects and the best PR firms are probably being negotiated HUGE contracts.

As for Qatar's 2 million people, oh it's not a Qatari World Cup. It will be pan Middle East. They'll fill the stadium themselves even if every single European were to boycott the World Cup. And the small dip in tourism will be easily made up by the awesome timing which suits just about every country in Asia when it comes to televison. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I'll no longer have to stay up till 2.30 am to watch a match.

If 612 million dollars were bid just to telecast India cricket matches...I think there will be quite some money coming in from Asia.

Awesome timing? The temperatures are going to kill the players. Also, no one here think, that a World Cup wouldn't generate lots of money. Even my dearest friend Sepp Blatter does. That's why he gave the WC to Russia and Qatar. Also two countries in which the press surely won't write anything harmfull on his great organisation, the FIFA. Stupid England, the most free and bold press in the world is never a good thing if you want to impress the FIFA.

[Zed.D]

If Qatar can build 12 state of the art stadiums in 12 years' time, I think they can build a couple of airports in that much time as well.

Just sayin'...

Guys Don't be so selfish...This country is closer to my counter so their is hope that I go to the world cup by then.It will be great(I'm from Lebanon).Although,I would have preferred going to England but that would have been more expensive,I think.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) I honestly can't tell if you're being quite serious here...

Both Russia and especially Qatar are "reachable" from Iran and I normally should be happy for myself at least like you are, but problem is I can't see myself being anywhere near here come 2022 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

This post has been edited by Zed.D: Dec 3 2010, 11:02 AM

[Jack Sparrow]

Awesome timing? The temperatures are going to kill the players. Also, no one here think, that a World Cup wouldn't generate lots of money. Even my dearest friend Sepp Blatter does. That's why he gave the WC to Russia and Qatar. Also two countries in which the press surely won't write anything harmfull on his great organisation, the FIFA. Stupid England, the most free and bold press in the world is never a good thing if you want to impress the FIFA.

Well by timing I was referring to the telecast timing. And you must have read the article I posted. The temperature in the stadium is not gonna go above 27 degrees celsius. And I doubt if they can think of this, they're gonna be stupid enough to keep training in 40+ degrees celsius.

And anyway, my point is not about who lost. The argument here is that Qatar cannot host a World Cup..and I'm differing by saying Qatar can and (barring any political/military turmoil in the Middle East 12 years from now) it will.


Russia I can't speak for. I do know they've already started building/upgrading their stadiums. Having never been to Russia and refusing to take the media's take on a nation, I'll just have to hold my opinion till it starts.

[LaPalma]

I absolutely do believe, that they'll be able to provide everything for a proper WC. I just think, that it's madness. Madness, to build several stadiums, which no one is going to need after the WC, to create infrastructure, which no one will need after the WC and madness to use massive amounts of energy on cooling down stadiums in the middle of the desert.

Btw...don't you have to work in Bavaria?

[Zed.D]

^^ It's their own problem, though.

It's not like those stadiums will be left to rot after the World Cup. there are always ME and Asian tournaments, friendly games etc etc.

EDIT: YES I KNOW 12 stadiums are too many but still..

This post has been edited by Zed.D: Dec 3 2010, 11:51 AM

[LaPalma]

^^ It's their own problem, though.

It's not like those stadiums will be left to rot after the World Cup. there are always ME and Asian tournaments, friendly games etc etc.

A friendly match here and there, a tournament once in a year. That's not enough to operate a stadium without producing huge deficits.

[Zed.D]

Deficits? shouldn't be a problem for those oil-rich Arabs...

[LaPalma]

Exactly. It's a waste of money.

[Jack Sparrow]

Money which would I doubt not be used for anything much. At least a few jobs open up this way.

Work in Bavaria? What part of that sentence makes sense to you. We drink, we eat, we surf on the net....we get paid.