With the most expensive, and arguably the most ambitious, world cup taking place right now, the world holds its breath as it wonders whether Qatar will be able to present a world cup that will last in their memories forever. However, so far the reactions, to the 2022 host of the men’s football world cup, have mostly ranged from concerned to downright pessimistic. Complaints about the host country have surged through social media like wildfire, which has led to Qatar having a harder time achieving the reputation host countries shoot for.
However, since this is an article more focused on finances, let's take a look at another side of the world cup, one that might explain the reason for host countries beginning to back out of hosting large sporting events.
Qatar has claimed to have spent a mind-blowing $220 billion, making the 2022 world cup, the most expensive hosting in history. However, the world cup has so far earned $7.5 billion, creating a deficit of $212.5 billion for Qatar, currently. Based on these analytics one can claim that since it is the beginning of the world cup, Qatar would eventually be able to break-even once given time. However, deficits in the earnings of FIFA Men’s World Cups have been quite consistent for some time. In fact, all host countries since 1966, have been faced with a deficit regarding the world cup, except for Russia in 2018 which generated a $235 million surplus (The Economist).
Large sporting events witness fewer countries willing to take the role of host, due to such high costs of running the event. For sporting events like the Olympics, bidders are becoming more scarce. The 2016 Olympics had seven bidders willing to host the event, but only two bidders were willing to host the 2024 event. Furthermore, due to the increasing costs of maintaining and operating the events, more countries might become unwilling to spend money on becoming hosts. After all, the cost per footballer has risen from an average of $200,000 in 1966 (converted in terms of 2018 prices) to $7 million in 2018 (The Economist).
With such rising prices, and the continued deficits countries face in world cups, host countries are beginning to question whether continuing to host events would be worth it. It is worth wondering whether there may come a time when there is no country willing to host the world cup. Of course, that is near impossible, since the spirit of football will keep the sport alive no matter what.
By Moiz