NPR’s Scott Simon discusses FIFA’s controversial funding plan and baseball’s trading deadline with sportswriter Michele Steele.
Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now it’s time for sports.
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SIMON: The FIFA World Cup – no longer up for sale. Michele Steele joins us. She writes the Steele Cut Substack on sports and markets. Michele, thanks so much for being with us.
MICHELE STEELE: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: Let me try and put this in order. Tuesday, The Times of London reported that FIFA president Gianni Infantino planned to allow private investors to get a 20% stake in his most popular tournaments, including the World Cup. Thursday, European teams threatened to boycott. More teams threatened to join that boycott. And last night, FIFA announced it was pulling back on the plan. It lasted about as long as a hydration break. Why did it collapse so quickly?
STEELE: Yeah. A hydration break might be generous, Scott. This didn’t even survive a normal work week. I think this was, like, half a Scaramucci or something. And credit where it’s due – Martyn Ziegler at The Times, with this massive story breaking on Tuesday. Infantino’s plan to sell up to 20% of a new $20 billion entity, bundling all the commercial rights to the World Cup. And you mentioned the Kushner family involved. Jared Kushner’s brother Joshua was expected to lead the investor group. And then UEFA, which is the biggest, most powerful confederation in the sport of soccer objected. And they didn’t just object. They voted to boycott every FIFA competition, including the World Cup, until the plan was dead. You had the COO of FIFA saying his own staff had been deceived. And by last night, Infantino announcing the project will not proceed. Scott, breaking literally this morning, UEFA coming out and sort of doubling down, saying they’ve lost confidence in Infantino entirely. So this story is fast-moving and not over by any means.
SIMON: Why all the criticism? I mean, it would have meant a lot more money.
STEELE: Sure. I mean, that was the selling point to some of the poorer confederations in the sport, that they would get sort of this upfront payment. Well, there were a couple reasons why the criticism was so harsh. One was the head of the German Federation said he found out by reading media reports. So when you don’t have a communication strategy to your principals, that’s going to be a problem.
The other part of it is very existential, and UEFA said it outright. Quote, “the World Cup is not for sale.” They said that in their statement. The fear is when you bring in outside investors and you allow them to have a stake and make decisions about the calendar and format – hey, you know, let’s figure out what maximizes returns – is going to be your guiding light instead of what’s good for the sport, you can see easily a world where the World Cup has to be in the United States every time or another rich country because that’s where you’re going to be able to maximize prices on everything. And that’s how you have a full-blown crisis on your hands for Infantino and for FIFA.
SIMON: And I have to ask. Because before this week, Gianni Infantino looked to be, you know, coming off a very successful World Cup, looked to be cruising to reelection for another four-year term as FIFA president. The election’s now going to be held next March. He doesn’t have such a lock on the job anymore?
STEELE: I don’t think so. We’ll see if he even lasts until March because UEFA is certainly not standing down, saying that they not only lost confidence in Infantino, but many other members of the football family. They called the whole scheme a shabby, backroom, opaque deal. Them’s fighting words. Whether Infantino survives as president is now a real question, because UEFA says they will work in the coming, quote, “days and weeks” to devise a plan so that this never happens again. It shows the power of coalitions here, Scott, because other football associations are coming forward and backing UEFA on this.
SIMON: And let me ask – Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is Monday. Tarik Skubal, the great two-time Cy Young Award pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, is considered to be the biggest name likely to switch teams. Where do you think he could go – or stay?
STEELE: Oh, yeah, lots of intrigue, and there’s going to be a few buyers for him. So the names that I hear coming up the most for Skubal are the Dodgers, the Brewers and the Rays. All three have the capital that the Tigers are demanding, as you can imagine. I mean, you mentioned he’s a two-time reigning Cy Young winner. The asking price for him is going to be enormous because whoever gets them is instantly going to be in contention.
SIMON: Michele Steele, thanks so much.
STEELE: Sure.
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