Professional sport is one big, seedy, and corrupt mess. This is further evidenced by the corruption
charges that have been laid against several officials at the Federation
International Football Association (FIFA), the international governing organization of football/soccer.
Things were
already looking bad at FIFA. The
organization has been plagued by scandal and corruption for years. A few years ago, in seemingly futile attempt
to address its own problems, it appointed the odd duo of opera singer Placido
Domingo and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to study the
situation. Nothing seems to have come
from the Domingo-Kissinger commission.
However, I’m sure Kissinger’s career could provide an excellent libretto
for Domingo to perform that would inspire practitioners of realpolitik
everywhere. FIFA has also been facing
significant criticism for selecting the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar for
the 2022 World Cup. Qatar is not known
as a place friendly to working people and there is concern slave labour is
being used in the construction of the stadium and other facilities needed for
the event. Officially Muslim Qatar has
also shown hostility and opposition to Israel, and concerns have also been
raised over Qatar’s approach to other human rights matters. There have been strong allegations of bribery
to FIFA for Qatar to be selected for the 2022 World Cup, and to make matters
worse, the event will be held in July.
Holding a major sporting event in a desert during the hottest time of
year is really not the best decision for the health and enjoyment of players
and spectators.
Routinely I
read of and hear National Hockey League (NHL) fans complain about decisions
made by team and league management.
Sport fans simply do not seem to realize that the games they are fans of
are regulated by large and powerful corporations that just happen to be in the
business of sport. NHL and Major League
Baseball (MLB) teams are usually owned by individuals involved in other
corporations or are owned by the corporations proper. These people and corporations in turn
influence the administration of the league, which is a corporation of its
own. The team is simply a franchise of
the league. It is really no different
than an individual or company buying franchises for one or several McDonald’s
or Tim Horton locations. The fans act as
though the team is their own. Unless any
of them happen to have shares in the corporate interest that owns the team, it
is not theirs in any way. The fan is
nothing but a customer. If fans think their
favourite team, its players, and management are theirs, they are completely
delusional and are fooling themselves.
Toronto Maple Leafs fans should take this comment seriously. They have been blindly supporting a
corporation for years that has given them very little customer satisfaction in
return. The Leafs management and
ownership know they have a bunch of stooges who will keep buying tickets and
merchandise no matter what. If the Leafs
were any other business, it would have shut down decades ago. Would you buy a car from a company that has
only made lemons since 1967? Would a
supermarket stay in business for 48 years by selling rotten vegetables and
expired milk?
When a
company that relies on customers is corrupt or makes repeated decisions in its
policies and operations that diminish consumer confidence, they usually face
boycotts or customers simply take their business elsewhere. This should happen with professional sport
too. The billionaires that control these
organizations will take notice.
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