As the international sporting world reacts today to allegations of criminal misconduct by top officials of FIFA, the international soccer governing body, a flood of questions are surfacing about potential, long-term ramifications for what is arguably the world’s most popular sport. Chief among those is whether the votes to determine the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup competitions should be called into question.
They absolutely should, according to Patrick Rishe, PhD, director of the Sports Business Program in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, who believes the United States – its soccer fans, in particular – could ultimately benefit from the outcome of the investigation.
“In this case, if there’s wrongdoing, there has to be a revote for both Russia and Qatar for 2018 and 2022,” Rishe said in a Forbes column. “If FIFA has violated the spirit of fair play in allowing bribes and kickbacks to govern their decisions to award the largest event in their sport to nations who arguably are not as qualified to host the event, then these votes must be reconsidered.”
Rishe, who also is founder and president of the market research company Sportsimpacts, believes sponsors will play an important role in determining the course of action.
“If adidas, Visa and Coca-Cola, if these huge sponsors of the World Cup stand up and say, ‘This is wrong, we want a level playing field and you need a revote,’ then that could open the door for 2022 for the World Cup to come to the United States,” he told Bloomberg TV this morning.
Rishe predicts that sponsors will wait for the case to work its way through the courts before taking action. “But if the legal proceedings come back and show there was wrongdoing or malfeasance in awarding these two particular bids – Qatar’s bid especially looks fishy – I do think they have the power to have an impact on what eventually happens if FIFA is found guilty,” he said.
Another potential positive side effect, according to Rishe, is that the investigation may help the sport turn over a new leaf.
“If FIFA is found guilty of corruption, that will lead to world soccer being cleaned up to a greater extent than it is now,” Rishe said. “You’re never going to get rid of all of [the problems]; there is corruption out there, there’s too much of it. But I do think this is going to move the sport in the right direction.”
Rishe is available for media interviews at patrick@sportsimpacts.net.