With all the negative sentiment emanating out of
international media about #Brazil's ability to host the upcoming #FIFAWorldCup,
the obvious question comes to mind: "Does
a country's privilege to host a major sporting event help its reputation or is
it detrimental to its credibility?"
This is not the first time that the image of a country is
tarnished ahead of it staging a sporting extravaganza. Going back to Athens
2004, when Greece's capital city hosted the Olympics and Paraolympics, the
country came under the scrutiny of the global media who went to various lengths
in order to dig dirt, uncover scandals and blame the organisers for just about
everything under the blue skies of Attica, factual or fictional, the media
could come up with.
Beijing followed suit and the situation was pretty much
similar with international media striving to splash the most incredible
headlines about China's social imbalances, regimental training methods for its
athletes or lack of hygiene and air pollution.
More recently, the #SochiWinterOlympics fell victim to an
anti-Russian sentiment stemming from geopolitical tantrums in the Caucasus area
and the media had yet another field day off the pistes of the picturesque wintry
resort.
And of course Brazil! Hardly a day has gone by during the
last six months or so without Brazil's reputation thrown in tatters by media
the world over on a vast variety of issues.
But irrespective of how sensational some of these media
stories are, candidate host countries and cities of future big ticket sporting
events need to ponder and ask themselves one question: "Can the financial
benefits forecasted to be derived by the various revenue streams associated
with the hosting of such events outweigh the reputational damage the host is
likely to suffer in the run up to the event?”
Let’s take Qatar as another point in case; Prior to it
winning the bid to host the #2022FIFAWorldCup, the Peninsula State at the
northern part of the Arabian Gulf (others call it Iranian Gulf), was better
known to the world as one of the richest countries with limitless gas supplies
and a temperamental CEO of its flagship airline.
Now, following the various bribery allegations that
seemingly helped it win the FIFA bid, Qatar’s international image is that of a
greedy Arabian sheikhdom, with little regard for human rights, an appalling
record for the treatment of its expatriate workforce and a very corrupt
leadership.
So after the hype has ended, the fans have returned home and
the desert sand has settled upon the empty stadia, what will Qatar mean to the
rest of the world? What will the real legacy of FIFA’s gigantic football
tournament be on the miniscule monarchy?
Reputation is the most important asset a person, organization,
government or country has in its disposal and if this reputation is tarnished,
reparation would require a long time and a lot of investment. And if money is
no object in the case of Qatar and a quick fix of its reputation should not be
a major issue, countries like Brazil, with limited revenues and expansive debt
may find the task of rebuilding its image a much more arduous and time
consuming affair.
Just ask the Greeks! Ten years ago their football team won
#Euro2004 in that memorable final in Lisbon against host nation Portugal, in
the same summer when Athens hosted the Olympics. With an average growth rate at
roughly 4 percent for a protracted period of time and national pride at an
all-time high, the Olympics came and went and with them the connective tissue
that seemed to be holding the country together.
