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The football behemoth should be a better sport: give more and take less.
As the African teams drop out of the World Cup competition and the locals are left to pack away their vuvuzelas in disappointment, the world's gaze will focus ever more sharply on the business end of the competition. And what a business it is. The world soccer body, FIFA, stands to make a $3 billion profit from this venture. But little, if any, of this money will find its way back to South Africa, where few locals can afford entry into the multimillion-dollar stadiums.
The balance sheet is simple enough. FIFA sets the stage by letting local governments and citizens pay for the theatres and viewing sites of the World Cup - stadiums are ''sold'' as the infrastructure heritage that FIFA leaves behind. The best possible sites and stadiums are then used to maximise value during broadcasting revenue negotiations - some of that money goes back into developing the sport worldwide, but not to the local population.
A clear perspective on the process can be found between Cape Town's Table Mountain and Robben Island, Nelson Mandela's prison for so many years. It is at the picturesque shores of downtown Cape Town where Green Point stadium, one of the most beautiful and architecturally stunning football arenas in the world, was built. Eight matches will be played at the stadium, safely nestled in rich white suburbs and capturing the backdrop of Table Mountain to allow FIFA broadcasters the best possible pictures.
To host a capacity semi-final crowd, the stadium had to have at least 60,000 seats. Matches in the South African premier league average fewer than 10,000 spectators, so it remains to be seen how this iconic stadium will be paid for after the FIFA circus has left town.
It could have been very different. The initial plan was for a local stadium in a black township to be redeveloped as the premier Cape Town-based venue for the World Cup. This could have been done at 5 per cent of the cost of the new Green Point stadium and would have been of great benefit to the local black population. The proposal was welcomed and enthusiastically approved by local and state government powerbrokers until a flying visit (literally) by a FIFA-nominated official.
Travelling in a helicopter over Cape Town to consider the best sites for venues, he made a decision that is symbolic of the corporate power wielded by FIFA. Shortly after his helicopter returned, the Cape Town mayor was told that the new stadium was to be built on the site it currently occupies, because it would present wonderful pictures of Cape Town for billions of international television viewers. It was also made clear that this was not a request - it was a non-negotiable FIFA mandate.
Taxpayers, as we know from Olympic infrastructure debacles in Montreal, Sydney, Athens and Beijing, will be footing the bill for this extravagance for years to come.
On top of paying the bills for the right to host the FIFA show, reports have been emerging about the secret FIFA licensing and branding control police. Not even considering the lucrative media rights that FIFA negotiated without the involvement of the host country, the FIFA income side of the equation largely concerns money that morally should flow back to local (black) communities. The licensing and branding police are undercover agents whose task is to prevent thousands of vendors at street-corner stalls from selling non-licensed FIFA merchandise - money that helps support their families.
The FIFA branding lawyers have gone as far as claiming licensing rights for the South African flag for the duration of the tournament, and for marketing statements that link with ''FIFA'', ''2010'' and/or ''football'' and/or ''World Cup''. Licensed 2010 merchandise is cheaply produced in Asian sweatshops and sold by larger, often conglomerated licensees in official shops and in ''FIFA only'' zoned locations.
Even the hotel sector has been hit by the all-consuming FIFA behemoth. Flagship German media outlet Zeit reported that about a third of all hotel accommodation was block-booked by Match Hospitality, a FIFA partner organisation, to package at 10 times the cost price.
When more than 400,000 rooms were handed back a few weeks ago, it was too late for accommodation owners to find alternative suppliers of incoming tourists. As a result, some accommodation providers have less than 40 per cent occupancy.
One of the four investors in Match Hospitality is Infront Sports and Media AG, a Swiss company whose chief executive is Philippe Blatter, a nephew of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
It's not just the African teams that need to lift their game.
Hans Westerbeek is professor of sport business and the director of the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living at Victoria University.
Locals pay the bills as FIFA banks the cash
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