Franz Beckenbauer and Nelson Mandela helped bring the Cup to, respectively, Germany and South Africa. Pelé is currently trying to bring it to Brazil while David Beckham’s doing the same for England. If the US wanted to bring its own high-profile sponsor to assist in its own bid, there’s no better sponsor then rumored footie fan, Barack Obama.
With the current state of the economy, the conflict in the Mideast and the trouble he’s having in building relationships with congressional republicans, Barack has a lot to do now. Committing a whole lot of time to trying to bring the Cup to a country that isn’t really supportive of soccer will only garner him criticism he doesn’t need right now. But despite America’s low prioritization of footie, it loves the World Cup for the most part and a wave of optimism would hit the country and would reap some some financial benefits created by the visiting spectators. These benefits would be felt immediately at the areas where the matches are held and would (I believe) trickle down to other areas of the country.
Thing is, the US bid that he would be endorsing is for 2018 and 2022 Cups and the country can’t wait that long for such a trickle down. Therefore, while I would love it if he got involved, Barack’s plate really full right now and he can only focus on so much. The World Cup may be something he can’t focus on right now and all things considered, I’m not sure if I want him to.
The story’s in the L.A. Times but if anyone out there is reading, what do you think? Should he attach his name to America’s World Cup bids?
Tags: Barack Obama, David Beckham, Franz Beckenbauer, Nelson Mandela, Pele