....Qatar!
Hello to all,
(Quick note, this was written prior to the Arab Spring and the widespread unrest in the region. You can read Part I here, if you missed it.)
I would love to see the 2018 World Cup go to England. They have everything needed to make it an enjoyable and memorable World Cup. All of the stadiums are located near rail service and close to city centers. And, no two bidding cities are more than 250 miles apart. They also boast a great football culture and passionate fans. You're probably thinking that the choice of England is nothing to get worked up about. My choice for 2022 may surprise you though. I'm hoping it goes to Qatar. You're probably thinking, "Where the hell is Qatar?" and "Why would I want to go there?"
I admit that it may be a long odds for the Qatari bid. But, if the votes go their way, it promises to be a totally re-imagined World Cup, unlike one we have seen before. First the stadiums, they possess state-of-the-art technology simply not yet available in the U.S.. Please take a look at the first video, and you truly will be blown away. You probably noticed a few terms that were not fully explained. The "modular upper-tier seating" is truly revolutionary. Since, the stadiums will not need to host large World Cup-like crowds after the tourney, this modular seating allows for the upper tier to be taken apart. The parts will then be donated to developing nations.
The weather is also a big issue in Qatar, with temps getting well into the triple digits in the summer months. These stadiums also employ cooling technology that will allow that temperature in the stadium to drop by up to 70 degrees (Fahrenheit), all with creative uses of natural air flows. This technology will be given to other nations with hot climates, so they will be able to host large events like this. For those of us worried about the environment, these stadiums are carbon neutral as well. They use solar panels for power during the games. When the games are not going on, the energy captured is then moved to the local power grid.
Transportation should not be a problem either. The bid committee has contracted Deutsche Bahn, to handle their rail system. These are the same folks that run Germany's system, so it should not be a problem. If you wanted to take a different method of transport to the game, you have the option to take a water taxi, along the Arabian Gulf to the game (shown in the stadium video). Kinda beats that bus ride to the outskirts of Washington D.C., Boston, Phoenix, or to the swamps of New Jersey. Yup, U.S. soccer calls the bid city "New York/ New Jersey", but you'll be going out to the swamps of North Jersey for the game.
The biggest obstacle for the Qatari bid is the stadium capacity and how much of a hit FIFA is willing to take on tickets sold. Out of the 5 stadiums completed, 1 holds about 70,000 people, the other 4 are in the 40-45,000 range. The U.S. is light years ahead in this regard. All of the stadiums in the U.S. bid fall between in 80-95,000 in maximum capacity. The World Cup hosted by the U.S remains the highest in overall attendance, because of the sheer size of the arenas. The wildcard is Sepp Blatter (FIFA president), he pushed to get a World Cup to the African continent and has backed the idea of a one in the Middle East. The decision day is 176 days away, we shall see.
I looked again at the travel a Brazil fan have had to do for the 1994 World Cup. Remember, Brazil hopped from Stanford, to Detroit, back to Stanford, onto Dallas, and back to Pasadena for the final. I nerdedout last night and checked just how many miles (approximately) a Brazil fan and the team would have traveled. A few assumptions: I assumed the fan would have traveled to the States from SaoPaulo (Brazil's largest city). The closest airports to two of the game sites are Los Angeles (for the Pasadena game) and San Francisco (for the games at Stanford). And, I had to assume direct flights.
I hope you're sitting down, the miles traveled kinda shocked me:
Sao Paulo to San Francisco: 6500 miles
San Francisco to Detroit: 2050 miles
Detroit to San Francisco: 2050 miles
San Francisco to Dallas: 1750 miles
Dallas to Los Angeles: 1250 miles
Los Angeles back home to SaoPaulo: 6150 miles
Miles traveled: 19750 in a month, yikes! If you traveled 24,901 miles, you could have gone completely around the equator of the Earth. So, you can follow Brazil at a U.S. hosted World Cup or travel literally around the world, your choice.
And, a couple of other notes on Qatar:
- In regards to Qatar size, all of the stadiums will be less than an hour from each other. Allowing fans to see more than one game in a day. And, the country of Qatar is only 4400 sq miles in size. If you remember my mini-rant on Houston, you know that Houston covers 600 sq miles by itself. So, the country is just 7 times as large as the city of Houston.
- The time difference between Eastern Standard Time and Qatar is only 7 hours. I initially thought it was much more than that, figuring it was much further to the East. To put that into some kind of context, there is a 6 hour time difference between us and most points in Western Europe and the S. African towns hosting this year's matches. So, the kickoff times will be just one hour earlier than past tournaments: Euro 2008 (hosted by Austria/Switzerland), World Cup '06 (Germany) as well as this year's Cup. Isn't it better to skip out of work for these games, than to watch them after a long day?
So, there's the case for Qatar. A World Cup would certainly go off without a hitch here in the States and it would be fine, but what else would it be? A World Cup in Qatar would give us new technology to emulate, help grow football in developing nations through their donations, and shine a light on a country/culture that most know little about.
My brother did remind me of one thing, that Qatar is an Islamic nation (can't believe I forgot that angle). After doing some research, I found a number of different countries and schools with travel advisories. All of these mentioned the same thing, visitors should be sensitive to Islamic culture and customs. This includes, of course, how you dress. So, a tournament in Qatar will not give us scenes like this or this. But, I say its a small price to pay, for a game changing World Cup. These women will be back in 2026. Hope you enjoyed the post, had some laughs, and learned some stuff along the way.
See you next time,
James
(Quick note, this was written prior to the Arab Spring and the widespread unrest in the region. You can read Part I here, if you missed it.)
I would love to see the 2018 World Cup go to England. They have everything needed to make it an enjoyable and memorable World Cup. All of the stadiums are located near rail service and close to city centers. And, no two bidding cities are more than 250 miles apart. They also boast a great football culture and passionate fans. You're probably thinking that the choice of England is nothing to get worked up about. My choice for 2022 may surprise you though. I'm hoping it goes to Qatar. You're probably thinking, "Where the hell is Qatar?" and "Why would I want to go there?"
I admit that it may be a long odds for the Qatari bid. But, if the votes go their way, it promises to be a totally re-imagined World Cup, unlike one we have seen before. First the stadiums, they possess state-of-the-art technology simply not yet available in the U.S.. Please take a look at the first video, and you truly will be blown away. You probably noticed a few terms that were not fully explained. The "modular upper-tier seating" is truly revolutionary. Since, the stadiums will not need to host large World Cup-like crowds after the tourney, this modular seating allows for the upper tier to be taken apart. The parts will then be donated to developing nations.
The weather is also a big issue in Qatar, with temps getting well into the triple digits in the summer months. These stadiums also employ cooling technology that will allow that temperature in the stadium to drop by up to 70 degrees (Fahrenheit), all with creative uses of natural air flows. This technology will be given to other nations with hot climates, so they will be able to host large events like this. For those of us worried about the environment, these stadiums are carbon neutral as well. They use solar panels for power during the games. When the games are not going on, the energy captured is then moved to the local power grid.
Transportation should not be a problem either. The bid committee has contracted Deutsche Bahn, to handle their rail system. These are the same folks that run Germany's system, so it should not be a problem. If you wanted to take a different method of transport to the game, you have the option to take a water taxi, along the Arabian Gulf to the game (shown in the stadium video). Kinda beats that bus ride to the outskirts of Washington D.C., Boston, Phoenix, or to the swamps of New Jersey. Yup, U.S. soccer calls the bid city "New York/ New Jersey", but you'll be going out to the swamps of North Jersey for the game.
The biggest obstacle for the Qatari bid is the stadium capacity and how much of a hit FIFA is willing to take on tickets sold. Out of the 5 stadiums completed, 1 holds about 70,000 people, the other 4 are in the 40-45,000 range. The U.S. is light years ahead in this regard. All of the stadiums in the U.S. bid fall between in 80-95,000 in maximum capacity. The World Cup hosted by the U.S remains the highest in overall attendance, because of the sheer size of the arenas. The wildcard is Sepp Blatter (FIFA president), he pushed to get a World Cup to the African continent and has backed the idea of a one in the Middle East. The decision day is 176 days away, we shall see.
I looked again at the travel a Brazil fan have had to do for the 1994 World Cup. Remember, Brazil hopped from Stanford, to Detroit, back to Stanford, onto Dallas, and back to Pasadena for the final. I nerdedout last night and checked just how many miles (approximately) a Brazil fan and the team would have traveled. A few assumptions: I assumed the fan would have traveled to the States from SaoPaulo (Brazil's largest city). The closest airports to two of the game sites are Los Angeles (for the Pasadena game) and San Francisco (for the games at Stanford). And, I had to assume direct flights.
I hope you're sitting down, the miles traveled kinda shocked me:
Sao Paulo to San Francisco: 6500 miles
San Francisco to Detroit: 2050 miles
Detroit to San Francisco: 2050 miles
San Francisco to Dallas: 1750 miles
Dallas to Los Angeles: 1250 miles
Los Angeles back home to SaoPaulo: 6150 miles
Miles traveled: 19750 in a month, yikes! If you traveled 24,901 miles, you could have gone completely around the equator of the Earth. So, you can follow Brazil at a U.S. hosted World Cup or travel literally around the world, your choice.
And, a couple of other notes on Qatar:
- In regards to Qatar size, all of the stadiums will be less than an hour from each other. Allowing fans to see more than one game in a day. And, the country of Qatar is only 4400 sq miles in size. If you remember my mini-rant on Houston, you know that Houston covers 600 sq miles by itself. So, the country is just 7 times as large as the city of Houston.
- The time difference between Eastern Standard Time and Qatar is only 7 hours. I initially thought it was much more than that, figuring it was much further to the East. To put that into some kind of context, there is a 6 hour time difference between us and most points in Western Europe and the S. African towns hosting this year's matches. So, the kickoff times will be just one hour earlier than past tournaments: Euro 2008 (hosted by Austria/Switzerland), World Cup '06 (Germany) as well as this year's Cup. Isn't it better to skip out of work for these games, than to watch them after a long day?
So, there's the case for Qatar. A World Cup would certainly go off without a hitch here in the States and it would be fine, but what else would it be? A World Cup in Qatar would give us new technology to emulate, help grow football in developing nations through their donations, and shine a light on a country/culture that most know little about.
My brother did remind me of one thing, that Qatar is an Islamic nation (can't believe I forgot that angle). After doing some research, I found a number of different countries and schools with travel advisories. All of these mentioned the same thing, visitors should be sensitive to Islamic culture and customs. This includes, of course, how you dress. So, a tournament in Qatar will not give us scenes like this or this. But, I say its a small price to pay, for a game changing World Cup. These women will be back in 2026. Hope you enjoyed the post, had some laughs, and learned some stuff along the way.
See you next time,
James
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