qatar, this is a joke right, page-34

"The USA has no problems - Baseball, Basketball, NRL and Ice Hockey all supported the bid and their biggest stars go behind it. Why because it improves infrastrucutre, etc. If your code cannot survive 4 weeks then you may just be on borrowed time anyway like most sporting clubs are - 50% are broke, 25% barely solvent and the other 25% rich. Facts of life. The World has changed."

likewise whynot - drag your head out of the sand and out of the FIFA mantra.

as i said, every cent for 12 years would have gone to soccer, destroying or damaging every other pastime on australia. lets be just like the rest of the world LOL

the US sports u mentioned - i assume you meant NFL too - were all winter sports, so were NEVER competing with the timing of the WC. and baseball (the summer sport) has a mix of its own stadiums & stadiums it shares with NFL, so it wasnt as if all of baseballs prime stadiums were being taken - and not just 4 weeks - we are talking 8-12 weeks while they are either modified or simply prepared. that essentially destroys the football seasons played here.

now who benefits ? - apart from a spike from the tourists, and yeah improved stadiums, wheres the long term improvements - show them too me.

for the 1st time this week i heard one of the pro soccer people, foster himself, acknowledge the bid was wrong in so many ways - one of them was not having YOUR OWN STADIUMS.

IF SOCCER WANTS TO BE ONE OF THE MAIN CODES OF FOOTBALL IN THIS COUNTRY, THEN THEY CAN PUT THEIR OWN MONEY UP, AND NOT RELY ON EVERYONE ELSE TO SUPPORT THEM. AFL & NRL MONEY HAVE BUILT WHAT WE HAVE - SOCCER CAN BUILD ITS OWN WITH ITS MONEY.
(mods - caps are here to make a point, its not yelling)