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- [00:02]
A
The Athletic fc. Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayo Akimolere. The World cup is just four weeks away. From tickets to hotels, broadcast agreements to squads. There's still a lot to sort out, but are FIFA exploiting fans? Joining us for this one from New York, we have Adam Crafton, Henry Bushnell in Washington, D.C. and also in the north of England, we've got Matt Slater as well. Good to have you with us, gents. So, one month ago, we all checked in ahead of the World Cup. One of the big topics we got into was the cost of the tournament, especially around tickets. So, Henry, this week you've been reporting on a new category by FIFA when it comes to ticket allocation. Can you just break that down for us?
- [00:54]
B
Yeah. So I think how the story has changed over the past month, and it was really last month that all this came to the fore, is that it went from just a pricing controversy to a ticket sales practices controversy, and how FIFA has gone about this and how they're really going to incredible lengths to try to milk as much money out of this World cup as possible. And basically the latest controversy beyond pricing is. So, you know, they sold tickets like they always do, like the International Olympic Committee and Olympic organizers always do, like UEFA do for the Euros in categories. And then recently they converted, you know, somebody who bought a Category one ticket that was converted to a specific seat. Americans aren't used to this category system. They're used to buying specific seats in specific sections and, and rows in a stadium. And I think FIFA. There were two problems with how FIFA portrayed this. They showed ticket buyers these maps that supposedly, you know, Category one corresponded to, you know, these specific sections in a stadium. But there are two issues. One, hospitality sections weren't featured. So fans thought they bought a Category one ticket. They had a chance of sitting at midfield in a lower level. In a lot of cases, that wasn't really possible. And then the other problem is FIFA held back some tickets, right? And that's been this big thing that people have realized over the past month, these holdbacks. And what FIFA essentially did is when they gave everybody their seat assignments, a lot of people who had bought Category 1 tickets in the past were given probably some of the worst possible seats within Category one. And then these tickets that FIFA held back, in some cases, when they're in the front row, they're now selling for more money. So that's been, I think some fans felt misled, but now that, you know, the holdbacks have become a whole, another issue that, that I think we We've all been reporting on. It's like it's unclear how many tickets are still available, how sales are actually going for some of these less popular games and how FIFA is going to go about making sure these stadiums are actually full.
- [02:51]
A
What was FIFA's feedback been when asked about this sort of new category that sort of emerged all of a sudden
- [02:57]
B
basically a non answer. So I think FIFA's thing here is they accepted very early on when they made the decision on how to go about selling tickets for this World cup, that it was they were going to take a PR hit, right. And it was just a question of how big that PR hit was going to be and they decided that they were willing to take it because they were going to make a lot of money.
- [03:17]
A
Back in February, Matt Adam wrote a piece and Johnny Infantino has suggested that every match for the 2026 men's World cup will be sold out, also claiming that FIFA had received requests for over a million tickets per game for the 77 of the 104 matches. Do we have a clue as to how many of those tickets have been sold considering all the different price hikes we've been speaking about over the last few weeks?
- [03:42]
C
Not really. I mean, I think Henry's really explained it nicely. We're guessing, you know, we've got the FIFA announcements which are incredibly bold and, you know, grandiose. Half a billion in total ticket requests, unprecedented sales. The language is very Trumpian and yet we can see games aren't sold out. We also know that as Henry again has pointed out, they are drip feeding tickets onto the market, which, you know, is a, is a, is a tactic, I'll give them that. Create an illusion of scarcity. You must buy now because there aren't many left. Oh, wait a minute, there's more. And of course there's always an element of that with tournaments because tickets do get returned. You know, they try and sell them around the world. There's hospitality tickets that we've never known quite what the percentage of those were. They're sponsors tickets. There are complexities to this, but overall the process is incredibly opaque and it does boil down to what Henry has very neatly explained. They've made a conscious decision that they are going to make as much money from ticketing as possible. And there's lots of different ways you can sort of see this. So FIFA runs on these sort of four year cycles which are all about the World cup. You know, sort of three years of famine, one year of feast, and they were always going to make a record amount on this tournament, one, because of inflation, but two, because they've expanded the World cup, but also because they're going to the States. The euphemism that Gianni likes is it's the most developed market for sort of live entertainment in the world. By developed, it means it's the place in the world that you can charge customers the most because they're used to it. And that is what FIFA has set out to do. But to go to your question, how many tickets are sold? How many are left? I don't know. I've been looking at the resale sites. There are signs that American consumers who do appear to be remarkably tolerant of egregious ticketing practices, do eventually vote with their feet or their wallets. They did it at the Club World cup, and we're just starting to see that now on the graphs of where the resale prices are for average tickets. They're starting to dip, dipping from a very, very high point. Right. We're at the sort of the high point of the roller coaster here. How far are we going to go? I don't know. But that was always, I think, the best policy if you were trying to get to a game, to wait. Dynamic pricing, you know, it can gallop away, but ideally, like the tide, it should come back. Now, how that helps visiting fans, traveling fans, well, frankly, it doesn't, because you're going on a bit of a. A punt. But if you're there on the ground, wait, be patient. The ticket prices are coming back to you.
- [06:24]
B
The interesting part of this is there's two questions in how many tickets are still available? There's the ones that FIFA is held back and still trying to sell. And then there are the tickets that are available on the resale market. And in a lot of cases, it's thousands per game. Are those people, if they don't sell the ticket, are they going to go? Or are these tickets that were bought specifically for the purpose of being resold? And. And they haven't been resold yet. And so that's another wrinkle of this that is going to determine what these stadiums look like this summer.
- [06:53]
A
Another thing that a lot of visiting fans, and perhaps American fans will be dealing with as well, Adam, is the transport, and you've written about it, you've revealed that bus fares In New York, New Jersey are dropping from $80 to $20. How has this all come about? Because we spoke about it previously. You know, in Russia, in Qatar, free bus services or transport were offered to the stadium, but it hasn't seemed to be the same in America.
- [07:17]
D
It's definitely not the same in America. Nothing's the same in America. We're learning. It's funny just on what Henry was saying about, because it's interesting because FIFA have been talking just on the, on the ticket prices about having to be consistent with local market practices. Now FIFA, if FIFA really sought to be consistent with local market practices, they should really have scrapped the category system for going into North America, going into the United States, because that would be consistent. And the easiest ways to describe this is if you go to try and buy a ticket for a concert, you get a map of a whole stadium and you literally choose your seat. And that's what Americans expect when they put their hand in their pockets. So it's like FIFA have kind of taken the worst of US market practices, that is the dynamic pricing with the worst of kind of more European practices, which is the category system. So they're kind of talking slightly out of both sides of their mouth on that, on the transportation piece, which isn't really to be fair to FIFA, that's not really in their gift to control public transportation prices. But what they usually agree with host nations and host cities is that if you have a World cup ticket, transportation within a city will be free to a stadium. That was the original agreement with the US host cities until 2023 when they all kind of basically pushed back and said, this is nuts, we are not Qatar, we're not Russia, we're not able to run basically a complete loss. I mean, many public services, they don't tend to be profit making, they tend to be subsidised in some way. So you can understand that argument. However, Germany very much managed to do it as well at the Euros last summer. And then the most debate that's emerged has been in the New York, New Jersey region, which has frankly been like a total a multi bus, multi train pile up, to be honest, in the ticket that was first announced by New Jersey Transit, which is an 18 mile train trip, usually $12.90, started at $150. There was a huge reaction against that. They've eventually got it down to $98. That's still seven and a half times what it was. And that's after about seven sponsors coming on board. I mean, for the fans impacted, you know, it's a bit of a nightmare. They make the argument, you know, we don't want taxpayers to pay for this and FIFA won't pay for it as well. So therefore it's going to fall on the Fans to pay for it. And then the bus service. I'm kind of torn between whether it's highly romantic or completely mad because they've increased the amount of bus seats from 10,000 to either 12,000 or 18,000, depending on if it's a school day, which even in itself sounds completely mad that this would be a consideration given you still have to get people to a game whether it's a school day or not a school day. And it matters when it's a school day because they are using these classic, as you would have seen in the movies or if you live in America, grown up on American school buses, these yellow school buses. So they have an extra 12,000 on school days, 18,000 on non school days, and that's enabled them to bring it down from $80 to $20, which is a lot better. But Henry, I presume you have been on these yellow school buses. How do you think they will cope with a large amount of football fans?
- [10:43]
A
They're definitely not comfortable, I'll tell you that.
- [10:46]
B
Definitely not comfortable. I'll say a lot of the football fans who will be using them, if they're, you know, true football fans, probably won't care. Now, will the buses hold up? Will they break down? That's a thing that, you know, occasionally happens when kids are going to school in the morning. So we'll see how that goes. But. But I think they should be fine.
- [11:04]
D
Do they have bathrooms on them?
- [11:06]
B
No, usually no.
- [11:08]
A
No, like they're quite hot and sticky
- [11:10]
B
and no, oftentimes no air conditioning. I mean, maybe they've.
- [11:13]
A
No. Yeah, you have to open the window.
- [11:15]
B
Maybe they've developed since I was in school. But no, these are the most basic of buses.
- [11:19]
D
I mean, it's interesting, right, because it's still an expensive price. The sort of host committee appear to have, like, convinced themselves now that this is cheap. But this is like $20 to ride a yellow school bus to a stadium. It's still quite expensive. And those services will be running for three hours after the game. So you might end up very hot on a yellow school bus two and a half hours after a game. Coming back from a very hot metlife in the middle of July.
- [11:47]
C
This is the Athletic FC podcast. Podcast with IO Akimolere. Pumps it high into the sky, into the area.
- [11:58]
B
Obispo gets the header out. Curacao have done it. A blue wave is heading to the World Cup.
- [12:07]
A
Matt, let's talk about how people will be watching this World cup because one of the stories that caught my eye was that caracao And Haiti and have reached the finals. Historic stuff. Curacao this week have confirmed Dick Advocate, who resigned in February due to personal reasons, has returned to take the country to the World Cup. Now he'll be the oldest ever coach to take a team to the World cup in the tournament's 96 year history. But the big question is, will some people in the Caribbean though be able to watch this World cup map?
- [12:41]
C
As of right now, FIFA has done meteorite steals for this tournament with 180 countries, it's got 211 members, which is, it's one of its humble brags more than the United nations. So that's 31 we're missing. So you're thinking, right, good, well done. Unfortunately, among the 31 are China and India and some other really big countries, Pakistan, quite a few in Asia for very obvious reasons that it's the middle of the night for most of the games and you know, China, India, Pakistan haven't got a dog in this fight, they haven't got a team in the tournament. So there's a lot more haggling to be done there. I think deals will be done in those places. And then there's about 20 Concacafee Islands in the Caribbean that don't have a legal way of watching the, the games yet. They will, I think, and I think it's actually imminent. That one slightly different issue there. You know, the time zone is not a problem. And in Curacao and Haiti, you know, they're in the tournament, there's enormous demand, they are very, very small markets, very small economies. And what tends to happen there is you do a pan Caribbean deal. And unfortunately various streaming platforms that have had World cup rights in the past or big major events, sporting events in the past, they keep falling over, they keep, they keep going out of business. So there is a sort of who are we going to do a deal with? Who's got the money, who's got the capability, who's got the, you know, who can do it? So I think that's been FIFA's problem in the Caribbean. And I do understand that a deal is very, very close. China and India, watch this space. China's a massive issue, huge. Not just because of the size of the population. We know that India is even bigger. China is a footballing nation. It's not very good at the moment. Swimming seems better. But Chinese fans, there is a huge football fan base in China. They've certainly watched previous World Cups. They certainly would assume that they're going to be watching this one if there isn't an official deal, all those people will find a way, wink, wink, to watch this. And most importantly for FIFA. And this is why I'm absolutely convinced, certain that a deal will be done. And as I said, FIFA have sent a delegation their right now or this week. There are some major Chinese sponsors of this tournament of fifas Hisense legends menu. There's some leverage both ways, right? Those sponsors, their activation of their deals depends on the World cup being in China. So there'll be some putting some pressure on. And if FIFA wants to continue, wants to roll those deals over, I think there's a package that can be done. Okay, you maybe say to the Chinese and probably the Indians, but certainly the Chinese, look, okay, this World cup doesn't work for you. It's in the middle of the night. We'll throw in another World cup maybe can we package that? We'll throw in a women's, you know, maybe if your team can get into that. And also perhaps we can do something with your sponsors. So that's where we're at. It's messy, it's very late, and it is frankly embarrassing for FIFA.
- [15:48]
A
FIFA kind of over egged the products a little bit here, Adam or I, I'm just thinking about India in particular. I mean, football's not their number one sport, cricket is. And you then have this situation. I was talking to Matt about this before. We all jumped on in that if you haven't got broadcasters snapping your hand for a deal, it's very hard to negotiate a big price for it.
- [16:07]
D
It's pretty surprising in the sense of, you know, we're constantly told that FIFA is this commercial juggernaut and they're so fantastic at what they do. To be a month out from the competition and this many people to be uncertain about whether they can actually watch the thing. I think that goes beyond kind of like normal negotiations into something that looks pretty amateur as an operation. What's interesting is in relation to China and India, I was sent some data yesterday that this FIFA pass scheme that FIFA have set up for people to come and visit the World cup in order to help them get visas. The two of the sort of top five countries of people applying to that scheme, albeit quite a small number overall, are China and India. So there is clearly an interest from China, from Chinese and Indian fans, even just within that metric. And also on top of that, you know, we know from you only have to look at how many fans there are of some of the major European clubs in those regions. I mean, these are people that want to see the World cup, even if they have to wake up at whatever time in the morning to watch games, I think it's an interesting thing overall. It's probably something we'll do at some point during the tournament is actually whether FIFA as a whole have done as well as they could have done for a North American World Cup. On broadcast agreements. When you think that the Fox agreement, the domestic agreement, the Fox agreement for this World cup was not a unique. For the North American World cup agreement, it ended up being rolled over from the deal they had previously. And that all goes back to one of FIFA's previous controversial decisions, which was to relocate to move the World cup from Qatar in the summer to December or November and December, which brought it into the NFL season, which made it less of an appealing thing for Fox. And they ended up having to sort of just roll the deal over, rather than doing a whole fresh negotiation for a domestic World cup, which I think could have brought them a lot more money.
- [18:07]
A
I just wondered how much, Henry, FIFA is relying, especially within America anyway, on the more sort of diasporic communities to sort of bring the energy, bring the vibe to this World Cup. We've spoken about several times about the cost of people coming to the World cup from various countries. There are still visa issues from many countries to come into America, but also on the ground, I mean, you've got so many different nationalities within America right now from various parts of the world. How, how much are we looking at those communities to really give this World cup, you know, the kudos it deserves?
- [18:37]
B
Yeah, I think that's going to be it. And it's going to look like, to people who don't know America and are watching from afar, it's going to look like a lot of people have come to this tournament, but in reality, it's people traveling from within the United States or already living very close to these stadiums. And I actually think, I don't know if FIFA has been relying on this, but it is certainly a benefit of, you know, look, in a lot of ways, America is a problematic World cup host, and we're going to see that. We've seen it in a lot of the things we've already talked about here. We're going to see it in the travel distances in some of the climates, the weather, et cetera, but it's the perfect World cup host in this sense. We roll our eyes at a lot of things. Gianni Infantino says, but I was at a panel conference type thing with him a few months ago, and he said, America, it has already People from everywhere who are here, second generation, third generation, first generation. And it will welcome the world in a way that no other country can welcome the world, because you have the world already here in North America. And that's true. And that's why this World cup is going to be really cool. Look, it's not all 48 countries, but, you know, I'm even thinking, I was even thinking about what the atmosphere around, like the opening week of the tournament is going to be. So I'll be in LA for it and it'll be incredibly cool to be in LA to watch Mexico's opening game. You know, if Mexico was playing here, the crowds would be incredible. If Mexico gets here in the knockout rounds, it would be amazing. And you could say the same thing for dozens of other countries. So I think the atmospheres, despite everything we've talked about, are going to be very cool.
- [20:16]
A
You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast with Ayawakimalere. All right, let's move on. Let's talk about the moment football meets entertainment. Adam, let's talk about the opening ceremonies, I should say, because there are two other hosts to this World cup in Mexico and also Canada. What's the latest on the big shows that are being planned?
- [20:39]
D
Well, we're getting opening shows, we're getting a lot of shows, but opening shows aren't unheard of before sort of big, sort of big games. We've sort of seen stuff like that. Even at European finals. It's a lot of artists, about 23 or 24 artists across three ceremonies. So it's going to take a while, I imagine. I mean, to be fair, these opening ceremonies, which will take place before each host nation's game, so before Mexico play South Africa, before Canada played Bosnia, and before the US Played Paraguay, you're going to have about an hour and a half before kickoff. There'll be a 13, 14 minute show. I think the challenge might be actually just like getting enough fans in the stadium by that point so that it. So that it looks good on, on broadcast and it will need all the sort of transportation stuff that we've talked about to be in full flow by the first games. But, yeah, I mean, they've done it. They've done okay, certainly on the, on probably on the Canadian side, you know, Alanis Morissette, Michael Buble, Alessia Cara, the old classics.
- [21:43]
C
Michael Buble, Michael Buble.
- [21:46]
D
Mums will be happy.
- [21:47]
A
Marco Buble is not the guy you bring in to rouse a crowd before a football match. He's more of a Serenader, isn't he?
- [21:53]
C
I mean, come on.
- [21:54]
D
Yeah. And then in the, in the us they've got Katy Perry and they've got quite a big star from Thailand, Lisa. And who else they got? The US one's a bit thin at the moment, to be fair, I would say. And the Mexican one is, is pretty good for the region. They've got J. Balvin and lots of Mexican stars from the 80s who, when I googled them, appeared to be a pretty big deal in the 1980s in Mexico, to be fair. And then today they've announced the halftime show, which are kind of genuine global stars. They've got Madonna, that bts, and Shakira.
- [22:28]
A
She's in the World cup song, isn't she? Yeah, yeah, her and Burn Boy.
- [22:31]
D
So they are the three headliners. And look, I think as a lineup goes, it's probably beyond sort of getting, you know, your Taylor Swifts and whatever. It's probably as good as FIFA could hope for. It's being curated by Coldplay. Some people are going to love it, some people are going to absolutely hate it. Some people will quite like it, but moan about it. Anyway, I think there is something genuinely interesting about the impact that it has on players and coaches and, and the turf. When they did the club World cup last summer, they ended up with a stage almost in the sky at the top of the stadium because they were worried about impacting the playing field. As far as I know, this time they are planning to use the field, which means the turnaround time is going to have to be like a military operation as it is with the NFL to get it all within. I mean, that tends to be half, just under half an hour. World cup finals are supposed to have 15 minute half times. Last season, even with the stage in the stands, it ended up being 24 minutes. But like everything about that club World cup final overran. I mean, even, I think the game kicked off about eight or nine minutes late as well. And in some ways, does it matter? We're not really sure. But it must be quite strange to be a footballer whose body and mind is conditioned for your entire Life to a 15 minute halftime. And then all of a sudden the most important game of your life is radically different to that. You know, if it's 30 minutes, do they have to do a second warmup? I genuinely don't know. Sort of physiologically, and I'm sure some people will say it'll just be fine. But if your body stops for 30 minutes compared to 15 minutes, it must be different. And they're also going to have to be really careful not to mess up the field as well.
- [24:15]
B
The point about the field is the most interesting to me because if they do do this on the field, they have put so much time and energy and money into making sure that these fields can work, especially the ones indoors, you know, where turf has to be replaced by grass. And now you're suddenly for the one game that arguably matters most, that definitely matters most. You're going to potentially put that at risk. So we'll see exactly what they do about it, how much they bring onto the field, if they do use the field. I think there are a lot of. There are going to be a lot of questions about that.
- [24:46]
A
What do you think, Matt? Do you remember when Diana Russ came out for the USA 1 back in 94, the big football and everyone just sort of spread apart running down the field. I love that one. It was really nice. Different this time around.
- [24:57]
C
Let's recreate that. What viral moment. Brilliant. I think Adam treated this with the gravity that it deserved as he was furiously looking at his phone trying to remember who the halftime show was.
- [25:11]
A
I was wondering if you knew any of those artists, Matt.
- [25:13]
C
I'm aware of Mad on Her. Madonna. Madonna. Madonna, yeah, Mad On Her. Yeah, I've seen Madonna, thank you very much. About 40 years ago.
- [25:23]
A
Oh, wow.
- [25:24]
C
What were we expecting? This is the States, of course, they were going to put shows on. When I knew you were going to ask me this, I thought, I've been at the last two World cup opening ceremonies and I was trying to think what I could remember about either of them and I couldn't remember a thing. So I thought, well, I better just quickly Google them. And I found stories that I wrote three and a half years ago, whatever cats are. I was very rude about Morgan Freeman, who of course had been the star of their bid video. And it was all very odd. And he spoke in a kind of really weird, kind of solemn way. And there was a camel involved and then all the kind of mascots and the countries and it was sort of a riot of color and it was all very confusing and. But Morgan Freeman was the sort of the main takeaway for me. And then of course, who John Infantino was sitting next to, that's part of it, you know, all the dignitaries. So that, you know, that's a story. And then Russia I did actually remember a bit more about because I was like, oh, no, no, no. Russia was quite funny because what's his name? Robbie Williams did it with a Russian soprano and they did a they did a duet of Angels, which was a pop hit that I'd heard of, and Let me entertain you. And he was wearing a dreadful. A truly dreadful sort of red leather suit that made him like a frog. And he disgraced himself. He. He gave the camera the finger and he then tried to pretend that he was doing a countdown with his middle finger, the cheeky chappie. So, yeah, you know, World cup opening ceremonies are generally to be laughed at, but some people will definitely enjoy them. And even if they annoy you, they shouldn't annoy you very much because they're gone pretty fast and you won't remember them.
- [27:02]
A
Other than the Dinah Ross one. I definitely remember that.
- [27:04]
C
That was a good one.
- [27:05]
A
That was a good one. One of the better ones, actually. Let's get back to the football, Adam, because this week you've also published an interview with Brazil head coach Carla Ancelotti. Here he is, Ancelotti on how Brazil can be successful this summer and the
- [27:20]
C
last two World cup that Brazil won. 94 and 2002. All the people remember, of course, Romario Bebetto, 94 in 2002, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo Ronaldo. But don't forget that 94 Brazil played with four defenders and four defensive midfielders. In 2002, for the first time in the World Cup, Brazil played with three center back. The combination between defensive and talent is
- [27:54]
D
the key of the success.
- [27:55]
C
The last memory that I had to a player that won the World cup alone was Maradona. 86, but 86 to 20, 26, 40 years. And football, of course, is changed, and it's going to change.
- [28:09]
A
There's also a kip go around of that interview of the first time I've ever heard Carlo Ancelotti swear on camera when he was talking about Real Madrid and player power. But I think the big headline for Brazil definitely would be Neymar making the squad. What did he have to say about that?
- [28:24]
D
Not very much. It turns out after 40 years in coaching, if you don't want to answer a question, you know how to not answer a question. And he certainly didn't want to give sort of his final answer on Neymar. I mean, what he did say on Neymar was, you know, what. What is kind of relatively obvious to everyone. You know, he doesn't need to know if Neymar can control a ball or pass a ball. He needs to know if Neymar is. Is fit, if, you know, if he's actually able to run around and be of use in, as we've been saying. In very hot. In some very hot venues, and is in the kind of shape that can impact a game in a way that is more impactful than Vinicius Jr or Rafinha or Matthias Cunha or Igor Thiago, who's had a great season at Brentford, or Rayan, who has emerged at Bournemouth. You know, his name are just yesterday's man. And if. If he is going to be included, would he have the personality and would the Brazilian media and public accept him to be someone you bring on for 15 minutes or someone who plays a third group game when you've already qualified? I think this is going to be an issue, certainly for Portugal, I mean, as it seems to have been for, like, the last 10 tournaments now with Ronaldo, it's like, can he accept a potentially slightly reduced role? It might even be the case for Messi for some games as well. I'm not sure it will be, because I think Messi is kind of like a quiet diva, I would say, that has a lot of power at the teams in which he plays. But I do think Ancelofts probably has. He definitely has the guts to make that decision. And I wouldn't be surprised. I really wouldn't be surprised either way. I mean, it's changed a bit in that Estevao, who's the kind of young, exciting winger at Chelsea, looks very, very unlikely to be involved because of a hamstring injury, and Rodrigo at Real Madrid, who Ancelotti obviously knows very well, is definitely out. So that does provide more of a logical opening, potentially, for Neymar to actually be involved in the squad on football grounds, but that we will know on Monday when they make the announcement.
- [30:27]
A
Okay, I know you're all serious journalists, but, Matt, come on. Are you excited for this World Cup? Are you looking forward to it? We've dissected it several times on this podcast.
- [30:35]
D
Yeah.
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C
Oh, of course I am. I mean, because World Cups are really good, and I think I've made this gag a few times. Even FIFA can't spoil them. They're just brilliant. Well, not ordinarily. They're brilliant. And then two, you know, I am a serious journalist, and there's going to be loads to talk and write about. So I am excited professionally because I absolutely want to see how the ticketing plays out. You know, who's going to be there, the crowd's going to be like, I want to see how the transport holds up. I want to see what FIFA does. If it's a really, really hot day, I think there's going to Be plenty loads. World Cups and Olympics. Right. They. The kind of world doesn't sort of stop, stop, but it, but it, it almost does. You know, it's. It's the closest we get, you know, particularly when we get down to the kind of the business end of the tournament. The beginning and the. And the very end are truly global moments when they are huge shared experiences. We don't have many of those these days, and they tend to be bad. This. This is a good one. So that's why. That's why we love them.
- [31:36]
A
Yeah. This could be the last time, Henry, we see the likes of Messi Ronaldo. I've seen Odin Zeko as well, going to be playing for Bosnia as the only American on the panel. It's coming to your home turf. How excited are you for this World Cup?
- [31:49]
B
I think people are starting to feel it here. I'm not. I'm not quite sure how much I feel it personally yet, but I think I'm starting to get there. And I think, you know, you. You talk to fans and some of them say, yeah, you know, all the ticket price stuff has left kind of sour taste in my mouth. And it's. It's going to sour this World Cup. But I do think, like, once the story starts to become, you know. Yeah. Potentially Messi's last World cup, once the US Team gives some sort of, like, American face to this tournament, which it doesn't currently have, the story changes. Right. And. And people forget. Not completely forget, but for the most part forget about all this other stuff unless some sort of disaster happens during the World Cup. So I do think the mood is going to start to shift pretty soon.
- [32:32]
A
Adam, when the circus comes in, everyone kind of forgets all this stuff, right. And thinks about the football.
- [32:37]
D
Yeah, I think so. I think, like, once the people talking about the World cup are coaches and players. I mean, even with actually the halftime show announcement today, the fact that the video was done by Chris Martin and characters like Elmo talking about people like Madonna and bts, it instantly made the thing more likable than when Gianni Infantino makes the announcements and is the one saying, we're going to make 13 billion and we're going to do this and we're going to do that. It humanizes it away from this character that kind of just goes around telling everyone how much money they're going to make and how fantastic he is. So that will make it more likable, you know, And I think over the next week or so, the next two weeks, as you start to see the squads announced, where you get, certainly from some countries, particularly countries like Brazil, where they get everyone's families together and you get these incredibly emotional videos of what it means to people to be called up for a squad and the players. You know, once the Champions League finals out of the way, with apologies to Arsenal fans, it will all feel far more exciting. And as Matt says, that the World cup as a product, it cannot fail. So on a sporting level, it will be fantastic, I'm sure. And all the other stuff around it, I'm sure we'll continue to talk about.
- [33:58]
A
Well, in the words of Infantino, the FIFA World cup is officially the happiness provider to humanity since 1904. Gentlemen, let's leave it there. Matt, Henry, Adam, appreciate your time. Thank you guys for joining us too. We'll catch you soon. You've been listening to the Athletic FC Podcast.
- [34:17]
C
The producers were Guy Clark, Mike Stavroot
- [34:19]
A
and Jay Beal, with editing by Paul Iliff and Nick Thompson. The executive producer is Adie Moorhead. To listen to other great athletic podcasts for free, including our dedicated club shows, search for the Athletic wherever you get your podcasts. You'll also find us on YouTube at the Athletic FC Podcast, so make sure you subscribe. The Athletic FC Podcast is an athletic media company production.