4. The Climate Isn't Appropriate For Football
During the 1994 World Cup in the United States the need for TV coverage in Europe to air at a reasonable hour pushed matches to be played in sweltering mid-day heat. Players suffered from severe dehydration that was deemed to be quite dangerous for their health. Temperatures in Los Angeles in July tend to be just under 30°C. In Doha, Qatar, the average July temperature is 41°C and it can get as high as 50. Obviously it's impossible to play football in those kind of temperatures. The Qatar Stars League, the nation's main domestic competition, sensibly runs through the winter like most countries' football leagues. However, in order to host the World Cup during the summer, the Qatar Football Association promised to build air conditioned stadiums, which, apparently, will completely solve any concerns about players overheating. The stadium air conditioning plan sounds incredibly implausible when it comes to tackling the desert nation's baking hot summers, so a more likely alternative has been proposed: simply move the World Cup to the middle of winter. The only thing is, moving a major event with stakeholders in literally every country in the world could not be less simple. With most domestic competition taking place during the winter, domestic football associations are unlikely to be keen to shift their already packed schedules around to accommodate a winter World Cup. Meanwhile, other traditionally winter based sporting events and the broadcasters covering them for TV have expressed their own displeasure at a possible World Cup clash with either the Winter Olympics or the Superbowl. And if that's not enough trouble, a switch to winter is also likely to cause serious complaints from the losing bidders. The Australian bid team has threatened to sue if the switch is made, saying that they made their bid on the understanding there would be a summer tournament (which, from their perspective, is actually winter anyway).