Torre Finds Out: World Cup hidden costs revealed

There is a wave of buzz and excitement looming across North America, as the FIFA World Cup is set to begin Thursday afternoon. But what most people don’t know is the hidden costs and loss of revenue that come with the event.

According to Adam Crafton of The Athletic, the World Cup will take a majority of the revenue that is generated.

“The frustration that’s been mounting, there’s a lot of disagreements, there’s a lot of challenges they’ve encountered,” Crafton said on Pablo Torre Finds Out. “Some of the terms that I’ve heard used, terms like ‘Piggish’ to describe FIFA. Others have used terms like ‘They’re great negotiators.”

In Crafton’s article about the hidden costs that will affect the U.S. host cities and U.S. taxpayers, he listed seven different examples that include the $25.8 million jail, an estimation of $57.8 million in lost tax revenue by Missouri, Georgia, and Florida, which all waived taxes on ticket sales to entice FIFA, $15 million in building the Dallas Broadcast Center, which is expected to be torn down at the conclusion of the tournament.

He also mentioned why FIFA banned host cities from certain sponsorships with coffee, seltzer, and tequila brands, the cost of “Special access traffic lanes” and police escorts for FIFA VIPs, the cost of keeping the stadiums clean, and the additional $13 million injection to ensure MetLife Stadium has a pitch worthy of hosting the World Cup final.

After Crafton told Torre about the frustration and disagreements North America faced with FIFA during the negotiation process, he was asked by Torre about what the process had been like by American Cities when they were approached by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his team, by saying, “America isn’t as desperate as countries that don’t have the built-in ego or resources?”

Crafton responded to the question by mentioning how the World Cup helped Qatar [In 2022] become a nation-building project, and called Russia, which hosted the event in 2018, a nation-building project.

“I’m not saying America doesn’t want the World Cup,” Crafton said. “Even within the states themselves, Kansas City may need this tournament more than New York, or LA, or even Miami. You then come up against cities that say ‘Hang on, who do you think you are?”

When the cities were making their pitch to FIFA, in a meeting that took place in Los Angeles, Crafton mentioned that the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, Kathryn Schloessman, asked what exactly the cities were getting out of this. FIFA executives replied, saying, “Hosting this tournament will put your city on the map.”

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