FIFA

The featured photo does not need explaining. I will say this. Our voting rights are being pushed to the extreme. At some point the voters are going to say enough. Hopefully, they will say it this November.

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If you have access to the Chron stories, they just put out a behind the scenes look at H-Town City Hall on the making of the ICE ordinance. Check it out.

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Good for Vancouver PD. See this from AP:

TORONTO (AP) — A request for FIFA President Gianni Infantino to be given a police escort while in Vancouver, British Columbia, for FIFA meetings has been denied, the Vancouver Police Department confirmed Wednesday.

“Formal motorcades where traffic is stopped are reserved for heads of state,” Deputy Chief Don Chapman said in a statement.

“As the FIFA executive do not meet Internationally Protected Person (IPP) standards that would warrant such an escort (closing roads, intersections, not adhering to traffic devices, etc.), the request was declined,” Chapman said.

FIFA did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

This serves as a lead-in to the World Cup that is coming to H-Town in June. See this from an excellent investigative piece in the Chron:

This article is co-published with ProPublica and The Texas Tribune as part of an initiative to report on how power is wielded in Texas.

When Texas dedicated $22 million to host the 2017 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons, state officials expected a return on their investment.

But a state analysis after the Patriots’ thrilling comeback win said it was “impossible” to tell if Texas taxpayers broke even on their investments. 

If anything, Texas came up $14 million short, according to a breakdown of tax revenues in the same analysis.

Texas taxpayers likely will be on the hook again when Houston and Dallas welcome the FIFA World Cup this June and July. The cities are among 11 in the U.S. that have agreed to shoulder hundreds of millions of dollars in costs for the soccer tournament, subsidizing a World Cup expected to generate $11 billion in profits for FIFA. 

Host cities and their local organizing committees will pay for security at the matches, cover the cost of retrofitting their stadiums to better accommodate soccer and operate fan festivals in addition to the main matches. Originally, they were supposed to pay to transport FIFA officials to all matches, as well, though that requirement has been waived, according to Houston organizers.

The cities get little tangible benefit in return. They do not see a slice of game-day revenues from ticket sales, concessions and merchandise, or parking. Even selling tickets or suites in exchange for corporate sponsorships — usually a key revenue generator for local organizers — was restricted by FIFA this year. 

Cities had to agree to FIFA’s demands before the U.S., Mexico and Canada even submitted their bid in 2017 to host the World Cup, and many of those host city contracts remain secret. Now, as the event nears, some cities are questioning whether those agreements will leave them paying for more than they get in return. 

“Everybody signed an agreement that was very, very one-sided,” said Alan Rothenberg, who is on the Los Angeles host committee for the 2026 World Cup and was the president of U.S. Soccer the last time the country hosted the tournament in 1994.

Then, some host cities would get a slice of game-day revenues, such as a share of the money made from selling food and drinks at the matches. U.S. Soccer also covered the bill for security at the games and other organizing expenses, Rothenberg said. That helped cities take in more money than they spent, making hosting a more attractive endeavor.

This time around, the agreement was so lopsided that at least one city, Chicago, withdrew during the bidding. And in some cities that moved forward, concerns have grown as the matches near. Officials in Foxborough, Massachusetts, threatened in February to withhold permits for the matches unless FIFA or the owner of the Patriots committed to paying $7.8 million in security costs ahead of time. Foxborough ultimately approved the permits after local World Cup organizers agreed to pay the bill in advance.

“At this point, I think a lot of people are looking at Chicago and thinking they were the smart ones,” Rothenberg said. “They looked at the terms of the agreement and said, ‘No, thanks.’ I don’t think anybody in the 11 host cities thought it would be as tough as it seems to be.”

Here is the entire read: Houston locked out of key revenue streams in World Cup deal with FIFA.

This does not surprise me, and it should not surprise you. FIFA will try to get over host cities as best they can. I guess some in the local hospitality industry will benefit like some of the nicer restaurants, bars, and hotels. Maybe the rent car folks get a bump.

I am sure the NFL tries to shake down cities when they dangle a Super Bowl for cities to bid on.

Nice job to those who put this article together.

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The Astros game at Baltimore yesterday was postponed due to bad weather. The game will be made up this afternoon with an old-fashioned doubleheader.