SUI arrests FIFA officials at Zurich world meeting...

[BDKJMU]

Plus Qatar is in the desert. How hot does it get in Qatar in the summer when the World Cup is held. 120? 130? They gonna have water breaks every 5 min?

They decided about a month ago or so that they were going to play it in November/December because of the heat.

But isn't that right in the middle of the big European pro league seasons?

[GannonFan]

They decided about a month ago or so that they were going to play it in November/December because of the heat.

But isn't that right in the middle of the big European pro league seasons?

The decision to move the World Cup in Qatar to November/December wasn't made without objection, and I'm sure it wasn't made without some money changing hands, as is the normal procedure for FIFA.

Of course, when the bidding process was going on, there was no talk of not having the tournament in the summer. Qatar had a plan to have every stadium, all of the outdoors, air conditioned so that the heat wasn't a problem. Once they got the bid, of course, they admitted that there was no way they were going to have the stadiums built like that, hence the need to move the tournament to the winter.

Nepalese slave labor just isn't good at air conditioning.

[YoUDeeMan]

Uhhhhhhhhh...who is paying for all of this?

Nike, Adidas, BWM, etc.

The sponsors and cable networks get paid when we buy the products and watch the games.

So, we are all paying for this corruption...and the deaths.

Welcome to a softer, indirect version of Hunger Games.

Or, in other words, welcome to first world foreign policy.

[BDKJMU]

But isn't that right in the middle of the big European pro league seasons?

The decision to move the World Cup in Qatar to November/December wasn't made without objection, and I'm sure it wasn't made without some money changing hands, as is the normal procedure for FIFA.

Of course, when the bidding process was going on, there was no talk of not having the tournament in the summer. Qatar had a plan to have every stadium, all of the outdoors, air conditioned so that the heat wasn't a problem. Once they got the bid, of course, they admitted that there was no way they were going to have the stadiums built like that, hence the need to move the tournament to the winter.

Nepalese slave labor just isn't good at air conditioning.

Then they should have been stripped of the tournament..duh..

Will certainly put a big dent in US viewership with Nov/Dec being the peak of the college football and NFL seasons.

I'll watch a little soccer once every 4 years in the summer but no way in hell in Nov/Dec during peak football.

[GannonFan]

The decision to move the World Cup in Qatar to November/December wasn't made without objection, and I'm sure it wasn't made without some money changing hands, as is the normal procedure for FIFA.

Of course, when the bidding process was going on, there was no talk of not having the tournament in the summer. Qatar had a plan to have every stadium, all of the outdoors, air conditioned so that the heat wasn't a problem. Once they got the bid, of course, they admitted that there was no way they were going to have the stadiums built like that, hence the need to move the tournament to the winter.

Nepalese slave labor just isn't good at air conditioning.

Then they should have been stripped of the tournament..duh..

Will certainly put a big dent in US viewership with Nov/Dec being the peak of the college football and NFL seasons.

I'll watch a little soccer once every 4 years in the summer but no way in hell in Nov/Dec during peak football.

Eh, Qatar is 7 hours ahead of us (might be 8 hours at that time of year once we're off DST). That World Cup wasn't going to be a World Cup that hits our prime times anyway. During the week soccer will be shown here in the mornings and afternoons, so neither college football or the NFL will conflict. Sure championship Saturday in college football will hit the viewership, as will the NFL on Sunday afternoons (still won't conflict with the games in the morning), but the World Cup will still do very good numbers here.

[GannonFan]

Uhhhhhhhhh...who is paying for all of this?

Nike, Adidas, BWM, etc.

The sponsors and cable networks get paid when we buy the products and watch the games.

So, we are all paying for this corruption...and the deaths.

Welcome to a softer, indirect version of Hunger Games.

Or, in other words, welcome to first world foreign policy.

No doubt, we certainly, indirectly impact stuff like this. It will be interesting, since Russia is in 3 years and Qatar is in 7 years, as to how things improve/stay the same/get worse. If this does become a true humanitarian distaster and it stays in the news - say that 5,000 workers do end up dying while building these stadiums - what will be the reaction around the world (probably nothing, FIFA has been corrupt for years and apparently the rest of the world is fine with that - for instance, see Putin step up and get behind Blatter today defending him) and what will be the reaction here in the US?

[Ivytalk]

So, our Attorney General's office found the time to investigate, arrest and charge multiple high-ranking officials from FIFA (**** SOCCER) but can't seem to find/investigate charges that will stick against ANYONE on Wall Street....

Wall Street is smarter than FIFA

klam troll...

[CAA Flagship]

Wall Street is smarter than FIFA

klam troll...

The fish are not biting today.

[BDKJMU]

Is there a chance Qatar could get stripped of hosting?

[Grizalltheway]

Is there a chance Qatar could get stripped of hosting?

If Blatter somehow gets voted out tomorrow, I'd say the chances would be much better. I think the guy most likely to replace him is Jordanian, so hopefully he has some deep-rooted grudge against Qatar.

[GannonFan]

Is there a chance Qatar could get stripped of hosting?

If Blatter somehow gets voted out tomorrow, I'd say the chances would be much better. I think the guy most likely to replace him is Jordanian, so hopefully he has some deep-rooted grudge against Qatar.

IMO, the only ways that Qatar doesn't host is 1) there is a smoking gun showing bribery directly implicating Qatar in some way (and there doesn't appear to be one yet, but the Swiss probe could reveal something or 2) there's a continuance or worsening of the labor conditions in Qatar where they are building the new stadiums and the world decides that the lives of thousands of Nepalese do matter. I'm not convinced the world really cares.

[JohnStOnge]

There's no way the United States ought to be granted jurisdiction here. I can't believe the Swiss are cooperating with this. They must be really pissed off at FIFA.

[tribe_pride]

There's no way the United States ought to be granted jurisdiction here. I can't believe the Swiss are cooperating with this. They must be really pissed off at FIFA.

None of the indictment has to do with the Russian or Qatari World Cups. I believe the majority of the indictments have to do with certain events that happened in the Americas including the Gold Cup and Copa America 2016

[SuperHornet]

There's no way the United States ought to be granted jurisdiction here. I can't believe the Swiss are cooperating with this. They must be really pissed off at FIFA.

While I agree with you, JSO, DOJ is getting away with this under special latitude granted by the Congress for prosecution of certain terrorists (not that these guys are terrorists) whose only connection to the US is funneling $$ through US banks. Tenuous at best, but apparently there has been some success with prosecution of terrorists under that law, so the new AG (who was apparently involved in the planning for this before her nomination for that position, hence the announcement out of her Brooklyn office vice DC) decided to go for it.

We'll see if it works in THIS context. These guys ought to be put away for a LONG time, but I agree that the US probably shouldn't have the jurisdiction to do it.

[CID1990]

There's no way the United States ought to be granted jurisdiction here. I can't believe the Swiss are cooperating with this. They must be really pissed off at FIFA.

While I agree with you, JSO, DOJ is getting away with this under special latitude granted by the Congress for prosecution of certain terrorists (not that these guys are terrorists) whose only connection to the US is funneling $$ through US banks. Tenuous at best, but apparently there has been some success with prosecution of terrorists under that law, so the new AG (who was apparently involved in the planning for this before her nomination for that position, hence the announcement out of her Brooklyn office vice DC) decided to go for it.

We'll see if it works in THIS context. These guys ought to be put away for a LONG time, but I agree that the US probably shouldn't have the jurisdiction to do it.

Agreed.

Another abuse of congressional fiat to go way beyond the intent of the original authorization

[GannonFan]

There's no way the United States ought to be granted jurisdiction here. I can't believe the Swiss are cooperating with this. They must be really pissed off at FIFA.

Why would they not have jurisdiction? Besides the use of US banks on US soil, the charge is also that they were on US soil when many of these said acts happened. Most of the indictments center around conspiracy and bribery for events held in the Western Hemisphere, including the US. It's interesting that while people are using the term FIFA when saying who's being indicted, the ones the US have charged are basically from CONCACAF (North America and Central America including the Caribean) and COMEBOL (South America). If these guys were in the US and did what they're being charged with, why would we not have jurisdiction?

If we were overreaching our jurisdiction, we would be indicting a lot of people who never came to the US at all. Apparently, we're leaving that to the Swiss to take up. We're not being the world police here, far from it, and despite what guys like Putin and apparently yourself are saying. If we were, we wouldn't have stopped at our shores when indicting people. I'm sure the same type of corruption that was indicted here happens elsewhere. Since we didn't overreach, we only picked the guys who are clearly in our jurisdiction.

[Ibanez]

Is there a chance Qatar could get stripped of hosting?

Hahahahajahahahabahahahahahahahahahahahahaahaha. *gasp* hahahahahahahahahahahahahahshahahahahahaha



No. Not a chance in hell.

[BDKJMU]

Is there a chance Qatar could get stripped of hosting?

Hahahahajahahahabahahahahahahahahahahahahaahaha. *gasp* hahahahahahahahahahahahahahshahahahahahaha



No. Not a chance in hell.

Still?

[Ibanez]

Hahahahajahahahabahahahahahahahahahahahahaahaha. *gasp* hahahahahahahahahahahahahahshahahahahahaha



No. Not a chance in hell.

Still?

Maybe...

[89Hen]

Still?

Maybe...

[GannonFan]

Maybe...

There's certainly a chance that Qatar could lose the World Cup now. Russia, not so much - it's too close to then and the Russians are masters at destroying evidence so there's no way they get exposed in a bribery scheme. Qatar, they're relatively new to the game, they could be caught.