Easy with the capitals. I am not here to talk up soccer or whatever. My point is quite simple - we as a country would have benefited from the World Cup - even tourism Australia wants us to bid again and they have no association to soccer. The LT benefits would have been increased jobs, investment and of course worldwide exposure - you cannot argue that. Look at the facts most people would never have heard of Qatar until now, why do you think this is?
In regards to the US the point is these sports do not fear the World Cup - the real issue is 12 years of publicity not 12 years of using stadiums or disrupting the season (which the Australian Football codes would have been compensated for - 4 to 8 weeks) - would have had alternative stadiums to use anyway. People constantly post we do not want the World Cup anyway (by way please do not speak for me, that is arrogant to the extreme) so what is the risk to these codes if no one is going to go to the World Cup anyway?
The real fear is that soccer would have got a lot of publicity but this would have been the same in the USA for 12 years. Do not see how the 12 years would disrupt the football codes. The cold hard facts are the AFL is loved by 3 states and the NRL by 2 - you can have teams in whatever state you want but it does not mean the majority really care for them. In Adelaide nobody cares for the NRL. These codes have had 100 years to grow outside their home states and have been unable to do so and that is with the media backing.
Today's youth really do not care as much about following a team week in week out, as there is more choice to do other things and more information on the web. If you love Ice Hockey you can find highlights on the web, join forums that match those interests and not be forced fed the local football code or cricket in summer. There are just more choices than the past.
I used to follow AFL but I no longer do, I no longer buy the local newspaper - why because I get a better match with my interests on the internet.
Secondly most of the sporting clubs are close to broke (NRL, AFL, A-League, Engligh Premier League, etc.) and carry huge debt. The World Cup would have given local Football Codes new modern infrastucture for the next 50 years. Where is the funds going to come from now for this improvement? TV rights are needed to keep things afloat not to invest for the future.
You cannot say there would have been no benefit that is just wrong, without the Olympics you would not even have Olympic park (or whatever it is called) which host AFL, NRL, Rugby Union and Soccer Internationals.
As for Foster, I do not think because he said so it must be so. The real losers are the other football codes, they were going to have another code build stadiums for their benefit and compensate them for 4 to 8 weeks disruption. That is one of the reason in a way it is best Australia did not win the hosting rights, it would have given the other codes more LT benefit, pity they had their heads in the sand and missed a golden opportunity - fear does funny things, bit like the stockmarket, all rationale goes out the window.
