FIFA 2010 World Cup: Brad Pitt of America & David Beckham of England compete for World Cup 2018 bid
The hype of the FIFA 2010 World Cup was caught by a nation that doesn’t actually call the sport by its original name football but by soccer. Football in that country is another extremely popular sport which actually is on the fast track to collide with each other.
Never would have one thought that that in a span of just a year, so much support for a foreign sport would grow. The United States of America has officially stunned the world this World Cup not just by its amazing performance in South Africa but by the talent, they are now producing.
It might actually be news to some people that there has been a FIFA World Cup that was hosted by USA before in 1994 and not only that but there are an astounding number of football fans present in the continent. The statistics are amazing for instance, 20 million people tuned into watch Ghana vs. U.S.A match, 15 million when Argentina thwarted Mexico and 8 million for the German victory over England.
If this isn’t enough then hear this out; while ESPN has acquired the sporting rights of these football tournaments from 2010-14 for $100 million, there are about 600 million people who tuned in for the last 2006 final between France and Italy in comparison to the American Super Bowl which had about 107 million viewers. In addition, FIFA has predicted that the overall attendance for the matches at the end of the World Cup in South Africa would reach to 3.42 million and that is a pretty big number. Ironically, the most attendance for the World Cup matches were recorded in the 1994 World Cup hosted by America and the 2006 World Cup in Germany, which were slightly more than this.
Now 26 US senators along with many campaigns, luminaries and celebrities are trying to persuade FIFA to let the United States host the event in 2018 or 2022. They are attempting the bid and are trying to urge FIFA by telling them that the country is desperate for the tournament to return to USA after the long 16 year period.
Apart from the senators, the campaign for the bid is led by ex-President Bill Clinton, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, celebrities like Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, sportsmen like Landon Donovan, Mia Hamm, and New England Revolution and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. On the list are also comedian Drew Carey and the body builder, actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. These happen to be just a few names in the line up for the World Cup campaign goes pretty deep.
After David Beckham represented England for the bid of 2018, Brad Pitt decided that he wanted to go up against the super star and prove something for his country too. While talking to media he stated, “Soccer is a truly global sport and the opportunity to join the effort to have the US host the world’s greatest sporting event again is a great honour”.
The senators from USA wrote in a letter to the President of FIFA Sepp Blatter, “We can think of no better way to show America’s enthusiasm for the sport than to again play gracious host to the world’s athletes and spectators in the coming years.”
They tried to encourage FIFA to give them hosting rights by bringing up reminiscences of the last time the World Cup was held at their country, “With memories of the successful World Cup in 1994, we hope to be given the opportunity to provide the coming generation with an event that is greater in scale and grander than any before”.
The group consists of both Democrats and Republicans and they are all ready preparing on a massive scale for all the measures they will have to take, in order to obtain the rights of the World Cup.
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