Why Qatar's World Cup May Be The Last of Its Kind 

Which sporting mega-event do you enjoy watching more: The World Cup ⚽ or The Olympics🤾?

"Mega means big" Someone get this man a raise

"First Winter World Cup"? This will come as a surprise to Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa, all of whom have hosted World Cups in the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Make olympics a host country like the World Cup. Then a city doesn’t take the whole burden.

I think London in 2012 has re used most of the stadiums - the main stadium is now used as a football stadium and has regenerated the Lea Valley.

I'm Indonesian , And during the G20 that hosted in October , Indonesian Goverment ever bragged a non-sensical irrational decision to hosting the Olympics in the new capital at East Kalimantan at 2036, which ironically that new capital not yet realized , Even i opposing this idea , If the Olympics were really hosted in the new capital at east Kalimantan , I simply won't surprised but at the same time saddened to see the nature of Kalimantan get a massive deforestation for the sake of building a new stadium I find that decision is much more political ambition-centric I would prefer that infrastructure of my country properly used for the sake of peoples welfare , rather than recklessly for the sake of symbolic project to fullfill political ambition

I think the most practical and reasonable solution is *regional co-hosting.* I mean a specific "region" within a continent co-hosting the Olympics. *For example, the "Nordic Olympics" can be co-hosted by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.* Something like that.

Really glad they did a deep dive on what mega means . I’ve never understood that word, and wouldn’t have understood this video without that .

The idea of a permanent host would be unpopular and considered as a monopoly. The sports is shared by the world, so hosting it should also be shared in my opinion. Specially for soccer, when the rules include a host nation automatically qualifies for the games, and the rest of the world has to compete to qualify. Either way, the cost is getting out of control and fewer nations would be interested as a host anyways. I just returned from Qatar, despite all their human right problems, it was an incredible experience. But not every host will be like Qatar.

Living in Boston and being around when this discussion was taking place, yeah this guy is right. It is sad that "our" first thought was that it might improve the transit we already have and there was no other real way to get that. After this was rejected the governor said they would invest in the system anyway as this rebuke pointed out but then in 2022 the system was worse than ever and catching fire etc so it never really happened. So sad that this is one of the few ways to push for meaningful investment and improvement.

If Olympics need a permanent host city, give it to Athens- the original host

I do like or watch sports, but I really enjoy the business aspects and geopolitics of hosting and building for massive sports games like World Cups and The Olympics

Countries hosting mega sports events should not hope to reap anything tangible other than promoting the countries' image. Those who do not have the financial capabilities should fight shy.

The IOC is infamous for syphoning most of the revenue from Olympics events while also demanding lavish accommodations. The only city I can think of in recent memory that didn’t end up in debt after the Olympics was Los Angeles, but that was because the Americans don’t spend on ridiculous spectacles. They don’t feel like there is anybody they need to impress

Meanwhile our Olympic stadium here at home ended up empty after many attempts to monetize it but none wanted to go there. Too big for a concert and professional sports. It just dwarfed anyone trying to put on an appearance. Next time, just buy a really large bouncy castle style stadium, fold it up after all is said and done.

in recent times many things were done with very little sensibilities but on pure conjectures. now we have hit a hard wall

Don't compare the Olympics with the Football World Cup. People and nations are actually interested and watch the World Cup.

For most cultures, including the Arab culture, it is not about the economics. It is about how well you are able to host and entertain your guests. When a special local guest is coming, You get your house in order, clean,buy special drinks, cook special food & even change furnitures. Imagine when you have to host the world. You will go far and beyond.

I had time of my life in Doha Glad I attended the world cup

Surprisingly they did not even mention the Asian Winter Games 2029 that will happen in Saudi Arabia

Oslo, Norway didn't want the 2022 Winter Olympics, even though the Norwegians excel at the event and there's memories of Lillehammer 1994. Had they used more legacy venues from Lillehammer to save on costs, then it might have gone on to the final vote instead of bailing out.

Maybe just have a couple locations around the world the Olympics is hosted in? Then at leas the facilities are guaranteed to be reused and there’s less waste.

Great reporting

At this point, there are already a few countries who built the needed infrastructure for mega events like the Olimpics and similar. No need for more countries to enter into such a cost. Just switch around the countries that can host the events without needing to build new stuff from scratch.

Even smaller events can be bad for smaller countries. After the cricket world cup in 2007 Jamaica was left with a mid sized cricket stadium in a rural part of the country that is barely used it cost way more to maintain it than the revenue it generates. Trinidad after hosting the fifa under 17 world cup were left with football stadia that generate little to no revenue.

It tempting to say 'Greece' to host all future Olympic events and revenue generated will be given back to global investors. More importantly Sport is Global, therefore every participating nations should bid & contribute different part of the games. e.g. running track in Germany, cycling in UK, water sports in Australia, gymnastics in USA and etc.

Professor Zimbalist made a suggestion near the end which we have mentioned many times. It is pretty obvious to us that the Olympics originated in Olympia and that is where it should always be hosted. Imagine all the money and time which would be saved, going forward. FIFA could create a similar option for future world cup events. 🏅🏅🏅

22:42 Milan and Cortina d"Ampezzo are hosting the *2026* Winter Olympic Games, not the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.

the city infrastructure development should be un-related to mega-events. mega events are run by corporations and cities are run by tax payers and should be managed seperately.

"last of its kind" - as if there were any 200 billion world cups completely bought by a government without any footballing merit.

I can't help thinking about what the best chances to contribute now are, there are suppositions however a little later I figure out these conclusions don't make any difference as an entirely unexpected development work out with the stocks they examined in that..

The problem with these types of events is that they need to decrease the requirements for their facilities so host cities do not need to build new ones.

Instead of 1host I tied select a couple cities like one or two from each of the 5 continents …develop the facilities and then rotate amongst those cities. It’s global, feasible and will give a chance for each continent to engage in sustainable development. I would go for (LA, NYC) for North America, London or Paris for Europe, South Africa or a union of African nations for the continent, Australia(Sydney or Melbourne summer)and new Zealand(Aukland winter) could jointly host, Tokyo or Beijing for Asia(maybe India might wanna join), Brazil for South America cause they already did it once plus they use the facilities. That would be amazing plus give options for joint hosting improving diplomatic relations.

Everything about the LA games sounds like it will be a resounding success, but is the transport within the city adequate enough? I've only visited once on vacation, but I felt I couldn't go anywhere unless I had a car, and even then, we were stuck in traffic most of the time.

I have seen worker deaths from 2010 to 2022 range about 6,500 deaths by tracing death certificates issued by Qatar to migrate countries of origin. That's just damn sad.

it barely talks about qatar. Continue at your own risk

Fun fact with the USA hosting the fifa world cup, they should only use 100k+ stadiums since they have heaps of them.... Soccer world cup can even be hosted in multiple countries, and even an Australia/NZ host (they host the women world cup, but that's a different cake) would be legendary in a different way because Australia is part of the AFC and NZ with oceania retrospectively.... And maybe even singa/malay/indo can jump on the bandwagon as well..... WA of Australia (with Perth Stadium) or even SA (Adelaide Oval) alongside with maybe 3-4 grounds in singa/indo/malay (maybe the new jakarta stadium that is being built at the moment, surabaya can be another host, singapore national stadium can be expanded to fit 40-50k and KL have a massive stadium in its own right or rather than surabaya hosting a few games, another malay city can host a few games instead) region can host several groups (lets say group A, B, C or whatever), since those regions are like 3-4 hours away between each other. The rest of the east cost and NZ (lets say MCG, Stadium Australia, Suncorp, SFS, Eden Park, Westpac Stadium and maybe a few other regional cities in the east cost/NZ such as Geelong/Newcastle/Gold Coast/Dunedin can host a few games) They merge later on in the tournament since FIFA plans to expand the world cup, so lets expand it to multiple host countries. (such as west group play their knockouts in the west till they meet the eastern group which they play their knockout in the east and then that get shared). Quarter finals could be held in Perth, KL, Eden Park and Suncorp. Semis - New Jakarta Stadium and Stadium Australia Finals and third place - MCG and maybe Singapore National Stadium. For visa issues, use Australia as the standard, then if they have an aussie visa (show tickets to games and reasonable funds or hotel booking as standard), they can go to NZ/malay/indo or singa for 30 days no issues during the world cup without having to apply for another visa. Its will require complex negotiations and a bit more time in the later stages of the game (to allow for travel) and a Oct/Nov/Dec hosting period. But its can be done. Olympics is a bigger complex issue, but i feel there should be at one or 2 cities per continent ready to host games at a drop of a hat and rotate as such if no new bidders come along....

In 1972, a statewide referendum in Colorado rejected any state funding for the the 1976 Winter Olympics, which had _already_ been awarded to Denver. Denver was forced to refuse its selection.

For game attendance, this is the best World Cup ever! Once you check into your hotel in Doha, all the stadiums are close by.

A city needing housing could build Olympic infrastructures that could be repurposed as homes. The sales of the apartments or houses could finance the building cost. May be…

13:55 Why woodblock music over interview?

Why western media not mentioned that every firm is britiah or European that built the stadium labor also work for them

The Olympics has turned into an unwieldy monster. Let them find a permanent home. Congratulations to Boston and the other cities that rejected the IOC in past years. Honestly, do we really need the Olympics when there are a plethora of international competitions for every kind of sport imaginable. What's needed is to improve transmission, broadcasting and streaming access since this is how the vast majority of people view these events anyway.

i was here to for the world cup not Olympics

So the IOC takes in most of the money and imposes most the costs on the host city. That formula needs to change.

don't get why they don't build modular stadiums that can be kept up to date easier or reconfigured around existing infrastructure such as transport or hotels etc

It's not the first winter world cup: 2010 was in winter for the host country, South Africa

While the video did mention autocratic states bidding to host these mega events I think they could have gone more into the concept of sports washing.

I think this whole video ignores the main issue. Everyone, including former FIFA leaders, knew that Qatar wasn’t a good venue and wasn’t really practical. But corruption and oil money dominated the decision, so practicality goes out the window. And I expect that will continue for FIFA since they are comically corrupt. And I think the Olympic committee is going in that direction too, but hopefully they can course correct. I’d like to think it is the last, but I don’t have enough faith in our institutions to really believe it.

Honestly I think a chosen city for each continent that rotates would be a bit easier

You forgot the 2nd biggest sports league in the world. IPL, India & the game is cricket. Started as late as year 2007.

The cost overruns by a PRIVATE company like the IOC should NEVER be taken over by the government. If the contract has that included it's just "automatic corruption enabled".

This video feels like a projection and wish than reality. At least, World Cup hosting will still continue to be highly sought after

Here is an idea. Make five cities to host permanently the Olympic games and divide them to be one in each continent (six if you consider South America to be its own continent). This way you get much more time to prepare for each game and you don't have to constantly build infrastructure worth millions that will be abandoned as soon as the games end.

Salt Lake 2002 made money, how? We spent little on new venues (that are still in regular use till this day) and all the investment went into infustructure and a city rail system. You just need to think of the long term success and not the event itself.

Why is the audio so badly mixed...we can help.

We can only hope it's the last World Cup of it's kind.

But but the more money city or country can buy the hosting of the game.

Instead of a host city for the Olympics, why not host venues? That way multiple nations can all share.

The Cricket World Cup happens in different cities/countries. It's the best thing to do.

I think having place per continent. Then no part of the world is left out but then its not completely new places every time having to burden themselves with these costs.

I don't give a rat's hiney about the OG anyway. I used to love it, but not anymore. In my country ALL rights to broadcast is bought up by a monopolist company. Even access via the internet is geo-locked. But for snippet replays you can't watch at all if you don't subscribe to that monopolist company's service. Which is absolutely loaded beyond all reason and belief with other irrelevant channels. The IOC wipes it's hands of the matter. They are content to take payment. So yeah. If it's not first and foremost about the betterment of mankind, but rather just a corporate angle, then I'm not interested. Making money is good and well. But... They. Always. Push. It. Too. Far. Beyond the humane.

Hey dudes, you keep using a harp audio track in the background of your videos & it’s very similar to Apples default alarms - it distracts me from the content so much when you use it

If you don't have most of the infrastructure in place, most of your investments will be wasted. In countries like Brazil, most of the infrastructure they built has fallen into disrepair because they had no use for it before the games and have no use for it after the games. The same will happen in a smaller country like Qatar. Places like Paris and LA are ideal places for the games because they're large metro areas with most of the infrastructure already in use that just needs restorations and upgrades to accommodate the games.

hurray Boston~!

When Americans say „in the world“ they mean in the US. Boston is just a random generic city that could be anywhere. There is probably 20 cities in China that look just like it. Many cities have rejected the Olympics before. Like Munich 2018.

2010 was the first winter World Cup. June is winter in South Africa.

"Mega means BIG'' -Andrew zimbalist

They said the same thing about the Brazil World Cup lol

Lmao the us just doesn’t wanna have to build soccer stadiums for the 2k26 World Cup, but most of the ones we have need upgrading 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

Qatar have intention to build the new city even if the new city will not host the world cup.

It’s really not worth it in many aspects. With costs overruns and long term non use if multi billion dollar facilities it’s not worth it.

Let’s do the Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece. And the FIFA World Cup in Switzerland. Always.

*Correction* The first winter world cup was held in South Africa in 2010 between June and July, that time was winter in the southern hemisphere.

Feels weird typing this but FIFA got it right. Changing it from host cities to host countries/regions solves basically all the issues

They need to just rotate the WC and Olympics from like 3 or four different cities that have sufficient permanent infrastructure to support such large global events.

South Africa did not host the Olympics in 2010

Ironic bringing on american pundits and american propagandists to talk about the World Cup that is even way above your reach from the olympics

I would agree to making LA our nations permanent Olympic host city. It would give them an incentive to develop nice permanent facilities for training athletes and hosting. A permanent site location should be identified for Europe and Asia as well.

I stop watching the olympics when they started introducing ridiculous sports like rock climbing, break dancing , skate boarding ...its become a hotbed for hobby sports, not elite sports

What is Qatar going to do with these stadiums after the world cup is over? Hosting the world cup just does not make sense for a small country like Qatar. Mega events should only go to places that already have the facilities so that the cost can be kept down.

Should have mentioned the Asian Games, the Pan American Games, and the Commonwealth Games as Mega Events.

Its won't be the last. .

They did it to develop the infrqstructure mainly. Which was not developed in previous years. The expenditure is not wasted as so many barren lands are developed. These people are not idoits. I am in Qatar for last 7 years. When inl cwme here there were no major roads. Now all outskirts are being developed. And they have huge investments outside Qatar.

I thought that was Bernie Sanders being interviewed

Make an island for all international sporting events. 🤷‍♂️

﴿إِنَّمَا أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَأَوْلَادُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌ ۚ وَاللَّهُ عِندَهُ أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ﴾ Your wealth and your children are but a trial, and Allah has with Him a great reward. Qur'aan 64:15

Did S. Africa really host the Olympic in 2010? Really Bloomberg!

$200 billion!!

I'd say Olympics and World Cup should be once every 6 years instead of 4 years.

Qatar lost some prestige in the west but the reception have been great in the East. The newly wealthy east I what everyone is chasing these days.

Only one city hosting these events isn't so great...maybe if we had like a city per region would be better and they alternate in hosting those events.

Last of it's kind due to lack of financial commonsense and disregard for human life.

Maybe........

Just don't have the sports that have little to do with community or the local infrastructure eg like the planned beach volleyball stadium in the middle of that Boston park - how out of place and ridiculous is that. It shows how arrogant these can they sports get to put enormous pressure on a host city to build their infrastructure so that they can have Olympic recognition every 4 years.

It is not a winter's world cup... it was held in Dubai... it wasn't snowing it was around 27 to 29 degrees Celsius. stop referencing events to upper northern weather.. it is not very balanced and fair

bro y'all knew about the leaked audios from city council and about the la28 corruption, and y'all still included them in this piece 😭😭😭

Just pick a God Damn permanent location, build it out and KEEP IT THERE!

It's funny to hear someone talk about Boston this way, boring city with nothing to do. Even NJ has more to offer than Boston 😂

How about 6 cities for the Olympic Games instead of just one. Three for the summer games and three for the winter games. One city on each habitable continent, with permanent venues for the mega event. If it were up to me the cities would be (for the Winter Games) Santiago Chile, South America, Almaty Kazakhstan Asia, Lillehammer Norway Europe, (for the Summer Games) Brisbane Queensland Australia, Johannesburg South Africa, Africa, Toronto Canada North America. This Way the events are shared on every continent.