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IndyPoker979 t1_ix0ngs6 wrote

Does anyone care this year?

This is the r/blunderyears of the World Cup and I'm looking forward to seeing whether they learn their lesson in the next one.

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Eroe777 t1_ix0pyl0 wrote

Isn’t the next one in North America? Since it’s split between 3 countries, none of whose governments will offer bribes, the level of corruption will automatically be lower. How low will depend on how much private/corporate money is shoved up his ass in the US, how much drug money/drugs is shoved up his nose in Mexico, and how much poutine he is politely offered (while apologizing for the lack of bribes) by Canada.

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Thrustcroissant t1_ix12jqu wrote

No one seems to be talking about the end of FIFA Uncovered when the U.S. stopped the investigation of FIFA, paid them $201 million and then won the rights for 2026.

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Eroe777 t1_ix144li wrote

I wasn’t aware of this. But I’m not surprised. It also probably wasn’t the government directly. Indirectly, however…

US law forbids federal funds going toward athletics. Which includes FIFA and the Olympics. The USOC is one of the few in the world that has no government funding.

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AlexG55 t1_ix3wvu0 wrote

Is there an exception for the Service academy sports teams? They seem to have a big budget, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were self-funding from ticket sales and TV rights.

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Eroe777 t1_ix4uqn6 wrote

I’m sure there is, because they are not professional athletes while enrolled.

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AlexG55 t1_ix529ev wrote

The coaches are professional, though. At some state universities the head coach of the football team is the state's highest paid employee.

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Eroe777 t1_ix5764i wrote

Athletics at the service academies doesn’t fall under the same umbrella as a federally funded Olympic Committee or football/soccer Organization. The purpose of the service academies is to train military officers. The academies have athletics, but the athletes are. It recruited because of their skill on the field. It’s really hard to get into a military academy, they each accept around 1,000 new cadets/midshipmen every year, virtually all of whom have the academic chops to get into top schools like Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, UCLA, Michigan, etc.

Is the head coach at Army paid in federal dollars? Yes. But his job is to coach football, not convince a corrupt multinational sporting organization to stage an astonishingly expensive event in his country by giving them millions of taxpayer dollars under the table. Or over the table. Or on camera.

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CatOfGrey t1_ix2wr0x wrote

You mean the US Justice Department awarding FIFA the money that had been confiscated from corrupt CONCACAF and CONMEBOL officials after an investigation?

You have distorted the situation here.

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Thrustcroissant t1_ix2ykdx wrote

Honestly, I appreciate the clarification. I figured there must have been another step but I missed that part (my attention was divided). The series made no sense to me at the end.

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dan_kz t1_ix1wixa wrote

lower corruption on México? please for god's sake

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