FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne said on Tuesday the 2022 World Cup should be moved to the United States — without a revote — if the Qatar bid is proven to have been corrupt. “Ifit had to be reconsidered, there should not be another vote but we should apply the IOC jurisprudence, give the gold medal to the silver medalist,” the Frenchman told French radio RTL.
Bad idea. The whole issue with Fifa has been the lack of transparency and integrity. Since the US is a CONCACAF member and CONCACAF has been the crux of the problem in FIFA, the US should defer to Canada or Australia, two up and coming countries that deserve it more. Abstaining from hosting leaves the US above the fray. Otherwise, it just looks like more same-old, same-old.
Last I checked, Canada was in CONCACAF too (though they did a fine job with the women’s Cup last year). Australia would be a fine choice. (And were that to occur, the USMNT would–assuming they qualify–doubtless have their middle group game in Perth…) Only concern with OZ is facilities–there’s only six stadiums of sufficient seating capacity to host World Cup matches (~40k or larger), and most of them are cricket grounds that a pitch far larger than necessary for soccer.