Creating Better World Cup Legacies

This post from The Shin Guardian looks at the often negative impacts of World Cup hosting, and offers some ideas about how the event can be reframed to create more positive legacies for the host cities and their people.

♦ FIFA should pay for at least 75% of all stadium renovation and construction projects undertaken for the World Cup. Infrastructure projects related to the World Cup cannot take form unless they were already indicated as part of a city’s master plan. If improvements in access and transportation to stadiums need to be made, they need to go through the same democratic planning procedures as other urban infrastructure projects.

♦ All World Cup stadium projects must include spaces that are dedicated to the preservation and continuation of local football cultures. This could take the form of “living museums”, soccer fields, education facilities, or cultural centers.

Brazil 2014: Proposing Alternatives
The Shin Guardian
November 2, 2010

Qatar's World Cup Hopes Go Far Beyond Soccer

Qatar is pinning its ambitions toward becoming a global city on its bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Qatar's wealth is mind-boggling, and with that comes opportunity. Perhaps the biggest opportunity occupying the minds of those creating Qatar's horizon is the World Cup.

Hosting the world's most popular sporting event would be a game-changer, which believes its next incarnation will be as a global IT and financial centre. Bringing the world to its shores is the chance to change perceptions. Eventually, someone has to fill the thousands of empty offices and the condominiums stretching across the desert sand.

To make that happen, white-collar nomads need to be convinced they can make a life in Qatar, not just make money. The World Cup is the chance to prove the point.

World Cup dreams rise like the Doha skyline
The Sydney Morning Herald
April 26, 2010

15 Cities Vie for Inclusion in England's 2018 World Cup Bid

Hoping to get into the country's plans for a possible 2018 World Cup hosting gig, 15 English cities have submitted applications to play hosts during the event.

About 10 cities will be chosen from a list that includes London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Derby, Hull and Newcastle-Gateshead.

Nottingham, Plymouth, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Sheffield, Sunderland and Bristol are also candidates.

The chosen venues will be announced by the 2018 bid team on 16 December.

Cities make case to be in England's 2018 World Cup bid
BBC
November 26, 2009

England 2018 Sites Prepare for Inspection

15 cities in England are preparing for site visits from FIFA officials to determine whether they are appropriate sites for a possible 2018 World Cup, which England is hoping to secure.

Two inspection teams from the England World Cup bid will visit all the cities over the next two months, starting at Bristol and finishing with Newcastle.

Each will have two inspections before a shortlist is drawn up by December.

Cities to put case as 2018 hosts
BBC
July 7, 2009

Cities Considering Extra Insurance for World Cup

Host cities in South Africa are grappling with the question of insurance during the 2010 tournament and whether more should be acquired.

SA’s Fifa host cities have to decide whether to take out extra insurance to the tune of hundreds of millions of rand to boost their cover for some of the risks associated with the 2010 soccer World Cup.

Cities are grappling with the choice of making do with the cover of their existing insurance and that provided by the Fifa Local Organising Committee (LOC), or taking extra cover.

The City of Cape Town is not taking any chances. It is arranging for extra insurance cover of between R300m and R500m, says the city’s head of risk & underwriting, Chris Greenway.

Do we have World Cup covered?
eprop.co.za
June 5, 2009