Saturday Email Bag -- FIFA and Sepp Blatter

It's the Saturday email bag and this week was quiet -- a couple emails about US illegal immigration -- until the FIFA scandal broke. Clearly, FIFA and Sepp Blatter are the touchpoints this week. Let's look at how FIFA got into this mess and where it's headed. ~~~~~ Sepp Blatter, just re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth four-year term, will get an additional 4 years to add to his already 17-year-long reign as the head of the global football organization. His challenger, Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan, withdrew after losing the first round of voting 133 to 73, enough to keep Blatter from being elected on the first ballot that needed a 2/3 majority to win, but not enough to make it worthwhile for the Prince to submit to a second round of voting. Prince Ali gave a solemn and realistic speech before the election, calling for the hard work of reform, saying that the world is watching and that FIFA does not exist "in a bubble." It was not enough. Despite the massive scandal FIFA now faces after the arrest of 14 officials on corruption charges -- despite the calls by leaders of European and American football organizations demanding his resignation in the wake of those charges -- despite the charges of corruption that have clung to Blatter's administration like tar for most of his tenure -- despite the 500 and counting deaths in Qatar of foreign workers building facilities for the 2022 World Cup, awarded amid charges of bribery and now being investigated by the Swiss Justice Department -- despite all this, Sepp Blatter won yesterday. A victory for avarice and indifference to human integrity. How could it happen? How could the world's favorite spirt be so thoroughly hijacked? ~~~~~ First, Blatter changed FIFA from a Europe-centered and -controlled organization to an Asian and African organization. How? He gave 1 vote to each country's football federation -- so that Spain and Fiji have the same influence in FIFA decisionmaking. Then, Blatter started a program to build football stadiums and training facilities all over Africa and Asia and the rest of the non-Western world. Then, Blatter took football's World Cup, the most watched sporting event on Earth, out of Europe and gave it to Korea and Japan and South Africa and Russia and Qatar. In politics, it would be called gerrymandering or creating rotten boroughs -- or influence peddling. For Sepp Blatter, it was the way he solidified his control over world football. It is these accomplishments that Blatter recounts to defend himself when accused of corruption. He says he is spreading football to the whole world. In reality, it could be called the Sepp Blatter Method -- tie the developing world's football leadership to him through money and influence that they would never have otherwise, and in return they perpetually vote for Blatter. Under Blatter, the membership of FIFA has grown to 209 nations (15 more than the United Nations). The "little guys" in football see Blatter as their savior. Blatter is viewed as tyrannical and corrupt only in the West. To the little guys with small population and little economic power, he is Robin Hood, challenging the dominance of the West. But, the corruption has become a form of symbiosis. Some of the nations supporting Blatter are used to governments that involve bribery and coercion. For them, Blatter operates in a "normal" way and the US and Swiss investigations represent the attempt by the powerful to retain control of football. ~~~~~ But who actually owns the World Cup? Granted, the World Cup is one of the few events that can bring almost every country together. But, football is a sport fed by multinational corporate sponsors. The host nation usually loses money and ends up with debt incurred for unusable facilities. South Africa 2010 was a huge win for FIFA and the various multinational corporations that hosted it, but not so for the local merchants and the local fans who couldn't afford to buy tickets beyond those made available by the government. The truth is that a World Cup is designed for those who can afford to travel to it and buy the tickets -- they stay in a hotel chain that is probably American or European -- they buy soccer apparel made by Nike or Adidas and branded by FIFA that rakes a percentage out of the profits -- they drink beer made by a European company (now including Budweiser). ~~~~~ Dear readers, along with UEFA, the US, Canada and Australia, it has been sponsors that have told FIFA to shape up or else. The US is leading the legal attack. UEFA leaders will meet with UEFA president Michel Platini next week in Berlin before the European Challenge Cup final to decide a way forward on the football fields - options being considered include refusing to participate in the World Cup, a decision that would make the Cup a second-tier sports event with little interest for TV networks or big sponsorship deals. And the mega-sponsors are already uneasy. Visa has said that FIFA must act to clean itself up or risk the withdrawal of Visa as a sponsor. Coca Cola agrees. Nike has already said it will cooperate to clear its name after being anonymiysly referred to in connection with a $160 million deal cited in the US DOJ indictment. And if Blatter clings to his current practices for awarding World Cups, consider this : Will Budweiser want to sponsor a World Cup in a nation that forbids alcohol? Will Visa want to sponsor a World Cup in a nation where homosexuality is criminalized? Will any major sponsor want to sponsor a World Cup in a country that has invaded Ukraine. Okay, Blatter was re-elected. Whether he can serve out his term is another question. We will see. He said in a Zurich news conference this morning that he does not think he will be arrested - if the investigation is carried out under international standards. Does Sepp Blatter think that Switzerland and the United States belong to the developing world coalition that keeps him in power? He can be sure that the investigation will be fair, honest and transparent -- which is more than we can say about FIFA's current operating practices. --- Join our email bag fun. Just send me an email anytime about any topic that interests you -- casey.popshots@yahoo.com.