Editor’s Note: A version of this op-ed appeared in the San Antonio Express-News.
Here we are again at a World Cup.
The storylines for the biggest show on Earth are almost endless. Equally unlimited is the money to be made: $13 billion to FIFA alone for the tournament and an estimated $40 billion globally.
Where does that money go, and who benefits? What are the policies and politics, the geopolitical realities, the socioeconomic stresses of the globe’s largest sporting event?
Critical pretournament media narratives quickly gave way to feel-good vibes and excitement for the game. We can’t help but join in the fun, celebrate brilliant goals and take joy in the equally brilliant displays of fan culture.
At the same time, one must keep an eye affixed to the stories happening behind the scenes.
The most immediate concern is FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, as an organization, which, luckily, was told in the buildup to the tournament.
The 2015 U.S.-led investigation into FIFA corruption aside, we are still dealing with an organization of little to no transparency and a culture of decades-long self-enrichment, vote-buying and buddying up with whatever regime entertains the FIFA officials.
The love for the game can easily be confused with the love for healthy profit, as has been shown by dynamic ticket pricing, and excessive sponsorships and merchandise in and around stadiums.
Next, there are protests. Has anyone noticed the families in Mexico, silently marching with photos of vanished loved ones, hoping the international press will give their cause the same impact it did to the Mothers of the Disappeared at the Argentina 1978 World Cup?
Other protests include opposition to multinational mining projects, auto-manufacturing labor practices and ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
As with every World Cup in our lifetimes, citizen groups raise questions concerning costs of hosting a sporting event amid poverty, crumbling infrastructure and social injustices.
Finally, there is an environmental reality to be reconciled with.
Despite early promises of carbon neutrality, this World Cup will have the highest climate impact. With roughly 9 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted, generated by air travel between the 16 venues in the three host countries, it will almost double the historical average for other World Cups, including the last one in Qatar.
These stories transcend the current World Cup because they are bigger than the tournament.
As with any tournament, this World Cup has its own narratives.
The most obvious is its unprecedented format: multiple host countries plus an additional 16 teams. We’ve already seen a preponderance of immigration issues — players, team officials, even referees allowed in one host nation but not another.
It has been said that the team that finally wins it all will be the team that can best survive it all — games, travel and simply each other.
The next time you sit down to enjoy a World Cup game, pay attention to it all: the show, the anthems, the fans and their behaviors, the FIFA officials and the politicians, the commercials and the economic realities they reveal, and the narratives the broadcasts leave us with.
There’s a World Cup being played within and around the official World Cup, and it can tell us so much about our world.
