It's time for unity behind our World Cup bid

Good Point. Whenever I hear the words World Cup I think of Rugby - and i live in Victoria. Forgetmenot raises a good point, but to sate those purists who want soccer to be referred to correctly, Is has to be the Association football world Cup, and the governing bodies should fall into line and become AFIFA and AFFA.

As long as most of the stadium money goes on projects that were to be built anyway then that lighten's the load a lot. Carrara, by 2022 GC17 would have been in the comp for 11 years and that Northern GC corridor will be heaving with families. Seems crazy now but by 2022 could be legitimate demand for an extension. Geelong already discussed but as long as they get the right option Adelaide and Perth are similar. Then their is the face lifts to the MCG, SFS and Homebush which don't seem great value but by 2022 they might need a bit of a facelift. The Blacktown proposal sounds well and truley like a white elephant to me if it's not an oval. Canberra (unless some super multipurpose stadium is built), Newcastle and Townsville .... their would have to be a big change for those projects to look good. They seem the real cost of the bid. But I wonder by 2022 how many compliant stadiums we would have naturally. I guess the only way to know for sure would be if we lose the bid and then wait 11 or 12 years. It's a sports demographers dream :P

Terry - You may be right, or, the FIFA WC may just - - - if run right, be the greatest multi sport festival in mid winter, and the AFL might have a great opportunity like never before to promote itself to a more global audience - - as will Australia as a dynamic and diverse sporting Mecca. Given the small steps in international growth of Australian Football over the last 10-20 years - - it might just be super timely come 2022 to help the AFL consolidate that growth with exposure like never before via all the various media 'postcards' style reviews of Australia and it's unique attractions and games, and via the tourists who make it here........the only thing was the AFL had to ensure they retained at least one venue able to impress people......Docklands.......otherwise, every game would be a locked gate and no tourists could do a soccer/footy weekend in Melbourne for example.

AndyRoo - exactly right - - and the major issue for the Aust WC bid is the over reliance on glob trotting tourists to bring in any pay off given our isolation and small domestic market, which right from the outset makes us not a good fit for such an event.......and we've seen the trouble a nation like Greece has got into by living beyond it's means and pumping too many resources into something that ran for 2 weeks rather than the real structural deficiencies and re your last point - - too true, which is why there needs to be serious debate about the virtues of the financial risk of a once of FIFA WC vs the annual Melb F1 GP as to which delivers the better year on year real world value. I did note that someone in the press the other day tried to put a dollar figure onto the compensation and the AFL are at pains to stress that who knows what it'll be in 2018 or 2022 dollars.

MV Dave. I have no interest in dispelling incorrect stero tyes about ignorant Americans. My only concern is Son of the Gun thinks he can talk for most Australians. We need Pip to use his powers for good to write an Article about how "Whalberg prooves Americans don't deserve World Cup".

"90 mins of not much happening....Thanks for trying guys, but we’ll stick to baseball" I must have been the only one who read it as sounding like he thinks baseball is better value. Since it goes for a lot longer with nothing much happening :P http://businessgametime.com/2010/04/05/how-to-strike-out-boredom/

the same guy probably doesn't believe Americans can speak Spanish

I didn't check the actual stadium $$$ figure. I guess it all depends on the next election ( all stadiums in Australia may have to be carbon neutral or such by 2022 the way the cookie is crumbling now, or perhaps Jesus approved). I'm not really belittling you for believing in Peak Oil. But if you genuinly are worried about it then 4 weeks in 2022 and even a 6bn bill would be the least of our worries. We would be well on our way to becoming a 3rd world ecconomy given our isolation and small domestic market. Theirs also a case that we would need big events to get a lot of people over the hump of "gee Australia's expensive to go too". Not a strong one but balances it out.

Kurt, this was about your earlier comment about 'what will have to argue about now?'. It appears the arguement rages on.

Must be why the MLS is going great guns and expanding to 19 teams by 2012...the latest addition Montreal. More people play and watch football (Soccer) in the US/North America than ever before...the game is expanding exponentially.

Punter, Sydney is not NSW.

Dave, You forgot one of many exceptions to your rule. Australia which supports more than one sport.

Well thankyou very much for your constructive criticism. You let a computer think for you?

What am I relieved about? The fact that 'footy is saved', or the fact that even though the AFL is now on board with the WC bid we've still managed 119 comments on this thread?

"There’s no way Americans are going to buy the idea of 90 minutes of running around without much happening. Thanks for trying guys, but we’ll stick to baseball" Hilarious :)

AndyRoo - as a stand alone subject - - - how can 'peak oil' NOT be real?? It's a finite natural resource. Not sure if you're trying to belittle me for paying respect to the idea as one worth at least considering.........it's a bit silly to dismiss everything out of hand. btw - 6 bn on stadiums.......are you for real!!!! ;-)

Well it appears Americans have roughly the same idea as many Australians. Mark Wahlberg's not happy. Mark, 38, added: "I'm not telling Beckham to take his family home. I'm just not sure why he came to America in the first place. "Man, we don't want your soccer. There's no way Americans are going to buy the idea of 90 minutes of running around without much happening. Thanks for trying guys, but we'll stick to baseball and basketball." http://www.dailyfill.com/Mark-Wahlbergs-Beckham-moan-45757/

mate - fall into line?? the AFL was always supportive, and has achieved their stated desire (since from Oct 2008 when 'rival codes' first signalled thier support) - - - to retain Docklands and play on through. The AFL also sought to get an undertaking that the MCG would not be hijacked for more than 10 weeks. And theirs an agreement of a frame work for compensation,......so, that's good too, Outside of that, the AFL was always 'falling in line'...........so, ............Frank Lowy must've been forced to capitulate then??? ironic then...........argue about who actually capitulated the most.......... ;-)

A reminder to all to stick to the topic of the original article. Please report inappropriate comments.

???? KB.....huh??? what do you mean?? The AFL is tied to the MCG until 2037 and Docklands until 2025. Do you dispute those??? If so, where's your evidence or do you just throw rubbish comments out there for the heck of it???