Despite FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s “high hopes” for the new Club World Cup in 2025, there is no guarantee that the tournament “will be a success,” according to Tariq Panja of the N.Y. TIMES. The Club World Cup is Infantino’s “signature innovation.” Obstacles and missteps have “blighted the path to the first game,” and a “huge uncertainty over its funding continues,” even as a draw for the event is set to take place in Miami on Dec. 5. The cost pressure from the clubs’ prize money demands is “separate from the amount of money needed to stage” the event, which FIFA initially estimated to be $1.2B. Officials said that they had budgeted for “cost savings that would cut the expenditure to between” $800M and $1B, leaving a projection of at least $1B in net income — money that “could be used to pay the participating clubs.” But that profit is assuming FIFA “hits commercial targets that defy the expectations of most analysts and industry experts.” FIFA has told stakeholders that the Club World Cup “will generate” $800M in media rights, and “between” $1B and $1.2B in partnership and sponsorship sales. Several experts who have either worked with FIFA or bought rights from the organization “estimated that the entirety of the competition, including commercial and broadcast rights, was worth more in the range of” $500-$700M. Panja noted the organization “cannot tap” its $4B reserves to meet any deficit after Infantino “promised members of his governing council at their most recent meeting that he would not use those to plug any deficits.” That has led to “growing speculation” that FIFA will rely on his relationship with Saudi Arabia, which has “fast become the biggest spender in international sport,” to enable Infantino’s “project to succeed” (N.Y. TIMES, 11/26).
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