What They're Saying: Dennis Coates

• by Soccer America , Jul 30, 2018

“I wasn’t part of the Qatari bid, I never spoke to the Qatari bid team. If they had contacted me, I would’ve said their bid was even stupider than the U.S. bid."

-- UMBC professor Dennis Coates, the president of the Association of Sports Economists, after it was revealed by the Sunday Times he was paid $9,000 to write a report -- containing, he says, nothing different than he had written before -- that questioned the economic benefits of the 2022 World Cup being held in the United States. Qatar, which won the 20222 hostings rights, is accused of employing a New York-based p.r. firm to smear the campaigns of rival bids – charges the Qataris deny. (ITV News)