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FIFA World Cup, will you watch.
- Thread starter Don CT
- Start date
It's kinda like the NFL's international effort.
The NFL thinks the world will embrace American Football. The FIFA want America embrace Soccer like football 🏈.
The NFL thinks the world will embrace American Football. The FIFA want America embrace Soccer like football 🏈.
If you are not a legitimate football fan, you won't enjoy the championship of the world's most universal and popular sport. Now, or ever.
There is a good percentage of Hispanics in the U.S. who will be watching... and there are about 70 million Hispanics here, not including Puerto Rico. Industry estimates are for between 18 million and 27 million, depending on the game. 5.8 billion are projected to watch world-wide.
I won't watch all the games, but the ones that are decisive in the qualification of Argentina, Mexico or any Latin American team (even, ugh, Brasil) I will be watching. It's the only sport I ever watch play by play for... and that is why to some it is the most important thing of the last 4 years and for others it is of zero significance.. I have even scheduled 18 hour trips to be in Buenos Aires on time on a Sunday to be at the Bombonera for a Boca Junior game!
The greatest appeal here is among Hispanics, projected to be near 30 million viewers. Most are not interested in the US playing as they tend to be followers of their "home team" from the nation of their heritage. I follow Ecuador, and am even hopeful about the June 25 game against Germany!
For the casual viewer, is Fox doing a good job promoting it. ESPN always had wall to wall reminders.
... good excuse to have a beer at 10 AM for some games.
With the expanded field, there are going to be a lot of meaningless games in the group stage unless one of the "minnows" -- teams like Jordan and Uzbekistan, which shouldn't be in this tournament at all -- springs a huge upset early, the teams moving on to the knockout stage will be a foregone conclusion after two games have been played in any group.
I wonder how Fox will handle the production of games that won't come close to filling the stadiums. Will the cameras be trained tightly on the field (OK, pitch.) throughout, with no shots of empty stands? Will Fox use AI to generate fake fans in the vacant sections, as it did in its baseball telecasts during the 2020 COVID season?
Anyway, the answer is yes, I'll be watching, though only occasionally in the early days. The USA, which has never developed a national style, is probably due for another disappointing run, but I'll watch their games anyway. I just hope politics -- or worse, terrorism -- will stay away from the Cup.
I wonder how Fox will handle the production of games that won't come close to filling the stadiums. Will the cameras be trained tightly on the field (OK, pitch.) throughout, with no shots of empty stands? Will Fox use AI to generate fake fans in the vacant sections, as it did in its baseball telecasts during the 2020 COVID season?
Anyway, the answer is yes, I'll be watching, though only occasionally in the early days. The USA, which has never developed a national style, is probably due for another disappointing run, but I'll watch their games anyway. I just hope politics -- or worse, terrorism -- will stay away from the Cup.
It will be a world feed so I wonder if Fox has any say.
Ah, I forgot that. Well, FIFA is the president's lapdog, so I wouldn't put it past that notoriously corrupt governing body to do it.
FIFA is actually one of the world's most independent organizations. They are unlikely to be influenced much by a country that does not even play good soccer!
Also more corrupt than the IOC.
FIFA hasn't lifted a finger in response to this country's refusal to allow a Somali referee into the country to work games in the World Cup. Unless someone has solid evidence that that man is a terrorist, FIFA should have protested immediately and loudly.
Follow-up on the Somali referee. U.S. official (anonymous) says he has ties to members of unspecified terrorist organizations. FIFA is washing its hands of the whole thing, claiming no involvement in the process. Andrew Giuliani, that renowned soccer expert and son of the prez's buddy Rudy, the eminently qualified head of something called the White House FIFA Task Force, offered something vaguely resembling an explanation without revealing much of anything.
It's Mutually Assured Corruption. FIFA and vonDimwit each have their heads up the other's ass, sniffing for more payoffs and FIFA Peace Prizes. They deserve each other.
Getting back to @Don CT's original post, I will do all I can to avoid the whole damn thing, even though some of the games will originate down the road a few miles at Levi's Stadium (Santa Clara), and others across the river from my old home town (MetLife in Noo Joisey). Once the Knicks-Spurs series wraps up, I'm done with sports for the summer.
I mean, they wouldn't undercut the man to whom they bestowed their prestigious, longstanding, revered and venerated peace prize, would they? Yeah, that's the mark of an independent organization, one that invents fake awards to give as a bribe to one of the least deserving people in history.
Even if I set aside FIFA's laughable corruption as just par for the course, I just don't care this year. I've not gone out of my way to tune in during past events, but have watched some games and very much appreciate the talent and spectacle of it all. But much as I was excited and amped up for the bicentennial, this semiquincentennial thing leaves me cold, and the events around it have no appeal whatsoever. It's the last milestone for the country I'll live to see, but I'm hoping the next generation in the family, many of whom should be alive, albeit old, for the tricentennial will find more joy. Heck, hopefully they'll still have a country to celebrate (and the ability to protest without fear of retribution if they so desire).
It's not the World Cup or the individual matchups that disinterest me, it's the crushing reality all around that saps joy from events.