Tax Waivers and Future Negotiations

Welcome to Pablo Torere Finds out. I am Pablo Tore and today we're going to find out What this sound is You expect me to treat the Chicago taxpayers as the dumb money at the table? You're going to be kidding me right after this ad Can we talk about Your green card is that is that Yeah, yeah. You have a green card, Adam Craft, and congratulations. Thank you very much. Yeah, no, that came through in the mail last week. so that is a huge relief. and it also now means, I don't know if people know this who live in America, but once you're in the process trying to adjust your status from non immigrant to immigrant. You can't leave the country during this process. So if I would have gone home for a birthday or to see some friends or whatever then you have to start your entire application again. So I thought it was going to take, we expect it to take between three and twelve months. And thankfully, it's come through super fast. so Thank you, America. You're welcome.. I wanted to start here because I want to congratulate you on apparently being trapped with us trucked in the best way. And you moved here because of what's happening right now, which is the World Cup being A New York New Jersey joint Exactly. so I moved march twenty twenty four and the idea was to develop contacts, build relationships, start get stories in the lead upps to of the World Cup It was a good chance to kind of actually get here. get feet on the ground, start to get to know people get a sense of what the challenges and the storylines were going to be. and I guess that leads us nicely into where we may go. Yeah, I mean, you are for those not initiated. You're the guy I've been turning to to help me understand what the f is going on in now our country You are the two time reigning sports journalist of the year in the UK I mean this's just what'm just I'm just stating facts. And you're on loan from the Athletic FC to help I think more than anything, today, bring me a folder of documents. I have a folder An entire folder of document films. Do you want them I keeping them? I think I It's a lot of documents too convey the tabs and the color codedness and all of this. And just the sound, which I think our microphones can pick up as I That's the sound of American exceptionalism I guess in figurative and also perhaps literal ways. Well, it's also FIFA exceptionalism in terms ofess much of that are contracts that cities have with FIFA and all of the different reasons why my money, your money being spent on this tournament So from a big thousandousand foot view, I should say I got to cover the twenty fourteen World Cup in Brazil. and I got a sense on the ground of what I had heard from afar, which is There is a lot of money sloshing around here. FIFA for those not Initiated is the apex predator of Noriously corrupt sporting organizations. We should say historically corrupt at this point At this point, I think FIFA would push back strongly on that But this story, as much as People may think, okay, yeah you talk about viva corruption Johnny Fantino, the head of FIFA and President Donald Trump. We see them all the time exchanging Golden objects. Let's start with our sports lead. President Trump finally has his peace prize. No not the Nobel Peace Prize, which is the world's most prestigious, and one that President Trump has long Cveted This one is the FIFA Peace Prize. President You're Prie, This is your peace Prize. There is also beautiful medal for you that you can wear Everywhere you want to go now. Okay, let me hold Fantastic. Excellent such an honor to be with Johnny. I've know Johnny for so long. He's done such an incredible job. and I have to tell you, you've set new records on ticket sales. and that is an amazing thing. The numbers are beyond any numbers that anybody, even beyond what Johnny thought was possible.inite I want to If you think of Trump in the most basic terms, he seems to be someone who is impressed by big bold. by eye catching numbers by numbers that are sometimes inflated So I think, you know, if you put in front of him things that are gold, things that are glitzchy, Things that sound large, he tends to be impressed and it tends to be less about Is this good value and more about Wow, that's huge And infantino is very, very good presresenting large numbers. Just the numbers on this in terms of how much FIFA is spending, we're looking at, again, just the basic math of it, operating budget, one point one two billion dollars. The projected revenue, eleven billion dollars And Inventino is saying, it's thirty point five. billion in terms of what the U.S economy would get The economic impact only in the US is around thirty billion doars. It's around two hundred thousand. perermanent jobs which are created As far as we are concerned, we have five thousand employees working only on this. We'll have around three hundred thousand people. We will have six billion people on the planet watching. the World Cup This is absolutely Incredible. It's one hundred of four games, one hundred four matches in thirty nine days. It's like one hundred of four Super Bowls That's a lot of billions. It's a lot of billions, right? And what is economic impact and how much of that economic impact is additional to what would already what I said he would already get, you know, in a usual summer in the United States when you have cononcerts and festivals All different stuff that goes on in New York and LA and Miami and all of these different places. So how much of that value is additional and can really be attributed to a World Cup? Well, I want to bring us to what is different about this World Cup because this event is different from the ones that you and I have covered in the past. Yeah, and it's really on an operational level. so historically FIFA would have a local organizing committee for the host country. So in Qatar, it was kind of the slightly awayianly named The Tar Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. That's right of the FIFA World Cup Great merch, G Committee for Dellivery and legacy. Right Like you're desperate to buy that baseball cab, right? For this one FIFA have kind of taken it in house. So they've opened up offices in Miami In New York Cillity, they have an office in Trump Tower wonder how that came about? S coincidence, in sure. She coincidident. As a result of that, it gives them a lot more control over the operations, the revenue. But as part of that, they've created these host agreements and host committees sorts of subsidiaries in each of the sixteen host cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico. and there's eleven in the United States. and it gives FIFA Hell of a lot more control Well, part of FIFA's American experiment is the understanding We can't just deal with Trump alone actually It may seem like Trump is the key to everything because that is his own self image and also what these videos suggest. but Part of what you are learning is legal immigrant to this country is that Wait a minute, these states and cities You got to go through them too. And this is something that I myself didnidn't really think about until I started reading your reporting, which has been this point, quite endless And that has created real challenges for FIFA because it means you need agreements and buy in and investments, not just from the federal government but from states fromrom cities, from mayors. I mean, infamously now in Foxborough, which is the little town. the Gillette Stadium near to Boston. homeome of the Patriots. The little town was refusing to give a license to FIFA for quite a while in the lead up to this tournament Because they were being asked to kind of front the bill. FIFA has less than two weeks to convince Foxboro town officials to let them host the seven matches at Gillette Stadium. The town says it won't issue a required license to organizers until it gets nearly eight million dollars up frront for security. They basically said until someone else, whether that's FIFA Boston or the subsidiary host committeeee commits to covering this, we will not give you this entertainment license. Yeah, onene of the glories it turns out of sports federalism is local. It is the whole idea of the final We're culminating this thing in New York slash, New Jersey, which is a concept that has now been formalized in terms of signage. Oh, this has been crazy. So even going back to the bid I mean, if you're looking back twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen, that's when the US won the the hosting bid. at that point, it was put forward as this was the order New York forward slash New Jersey. Do you say forward slash in the US? We've been invaded enough by you, Brad that now we do. I won't say anything else about invatations. So It was New York, forward slash New Jersey. and that was how it presents in the bid. That's what it's been for the last few years As the tensions have increased between FIA New Jersey New York. R New Jersey is hosting four teams during the tournament as base camps so Brazil Morocco, Haiti and Senegal will all be training in New Jersey and New Jerseys put a hell of a lot of money in It's around over three hundred million, according to local reporting. And that has created a sense of well why is New York's name first So that has led to one of the more Can I say petty requests? So on One of the most New Jersey requests. Right. One of the mill New Jersey requests. they would say it's just representing what we've put in But the sign on the stadium, because remember and we may get into this as well The sponsor nameam stadium, so the naming rights on the stadium are not allowed during the World Cup.. So M Life Stadium is not M met Life Stadium join this tournament. It will say New York New Jersey Stadium. and the signcience had even been changed, physically changed. But there'll be two sides. And now on a request from the governor's office, one of them will say, New Jersey New York Stadium So these are just some of the little kind of vignettes anecdotes that give a sense of the local and national dual challenge that FIFA' got. which is to say that there are lots of local regional brands identities and they are not all thinking about this the same way Yeah, I think it depends a little bit who you speak to. However the frustration. been mounting. There's a lot of disagreements There's a lot of challenges that they've encountered you know, some of the terms that I've heard used terms like Higish to describe FIFA Others have used terms like they're great negotiators. times they've been better negotiators than their American counterparts There is even a clause in that host city contract where I just want to read this right. So know it includes a clause that host cities must coordinate with FIFA on any public announcement, statement and or public and private press briefing relating to a World Cup or host city. Now Most cities have not coordinated with FIFA on private press briefings, I would say, given some of the conversations that I've had with them. I was gonna say Yeah, but it does give a sense of control they try and exert R? And not only that they try and exert, but the control that the host cities themselves signed up to that is always worth remembering in this. you know, as much as FIFA may be cast as the kind of the bad guys in the room or, you know, being unfair They signed the deal R. Nobody had a guns to the head and forced them to sign this deal. And this is why I'm so excited to do this episode and examine this folder of documents because this is not FIFA saying with a weapon, sign this or else. This is how the American World Cup gets made Yeah. And it's with consent orr at the very least some understanding that this is all going to be worth it But there's a hell of a an all in there that I think many of them now regret signing up to So I want to open this folder up because you and the athletic FC are colleagues there. When you examine the accounting here, it does make sense to just explain American cities are agreeing to pay the bill for the World Cup and I get that with the Olympics, you know, like International covering body comes in, town cleans up, build a new stadium, the stadium. 's what happens to it. tourists come, tourists go, It' sort ofess ghost town this like once sort of like sports pompei kind of vibe. FIFA's model, though what they are selling is its own, is its own distinct package. How would you explain what's folded inside of it I think the easiest thing is to say the things that FIFA get revenue wise and the things that the cities have to pay for If you think about the things that FIFA will take the revenue from in terms of the big revenue levers of any major sporting event, so broadcasting So that's your TV rights Sponsorship, so that's your Cola, Qatar Airways Lots of different Saudi entities, a lot of money in terms of that concessions in the stadium. goes to FIFA. Parking carpark spaces, which in America I'm learning is a lot of money. Under FIFA, it's even more money. It's getting up to two hundred three hundred dollars parking space per game and most of all, the ticket prices. So all of the revenue from the tickets goes to FIFA. mayaybe some hospitality, there's some joint ventures in there then think about what the cityities gettingting what they're paying for. right So cities being expected to provide Transportation Initially that was meant to be free It then became watered down to be at cost So not supposed to be making money on it essentially whatsoever Even with the New Jersey transransit price, New Jersey Trit claim they won't make money on that ninety eight dollars ticket more than a hundred dollars for a return trip from Penn Station to Metlife if you're riding NJ transit this summer. The eighteen mile journey, which takes a stop at Sakaka's Junction normally costs just under thirteen dollars too lower fares, school buses are gonna be used.icially What else do cities carry the financial burdit for? Safety security Protection, fire, police services traffic support, medical services. But the thing about that to think about is This is not just around a venue because the footprint of FIFA d a World Cupppets, transit hubs, it's fan festivals All of those areas of town that become more busy as a result of soccer fans being in the place for that four, five week period. So Times Square, for example, I imagine is going to be full of soccer fans parting. That's going to need more police resources. And that means a lot of these police departments are going to be doing a lot of overtime Probably stopping their offices going on vacation so they can cope with the demands. And that all costs a lot of money, particularly in America, airports as well right outouth. Right. And on some level, like I get like security very important very expensive The reason I'm opening my folder here to this first massive file is that this is somethingomet that speaks to one of the terms that youve mentioned, which is traffic support And the notion of traffic support, it is turns out codified in the host city agreement. I'm reading from the front page between Federation, International, the Football Association. This is FIFA based in Switzerland and not only the United States Soccer Federation, The city of Seattle Parentheses. Host city authority and In this How would you explain what gets detailed? prettyretty much everything is detailed. But I mean, if If we just take that example I mean you talk about like traffic support, The host city authority shall support police escorts for the ground transport of. Team delegation members and referees on match days. right? obody's going to arue with that What people might argue with a little bit is The same should also be provided for the FIFA president O VIP members of the FIFA delegation and further V The IP members identified by FIFA Now, nobody can really tell me what is a VIP compared to a VVIP. I was going say VVIP is a level of V that I wasn't familiar with. And how offended would you be as a VIP when the VVIPs are getting Whatever they As offended as the state of New Jersey. Right I would have that's very offended I would say on that I think there's probably an argument that the FIFA Pident has become so high profile that maybe M sure you can make that the emperor The emmperor of the World Cup, the King ofcer Johny However What the cities are now saying to me is these terms are very vague, right What's to stop FIFA from saying there's ten thousand people who we consider to be VIPs Who is a VIP? Are we just designating people who Johnny woken up and decided, Ohh, he's very important and he need a police escort And it's not just the VIP, it's also You've got these traffic lanes as well, theseese kind of express traffic lanes which may have to be shut off for these people So the cities are now sort of coming to terms with some of these asks which are very, very expensive and just logistically difficult Right In some cities to create these lanes and these pathways. One of the things that I've been fascinated by though, is like What has it been like for the head of a major American city to be approached by Johnny Fantino and his band of V and VVIPs who are demanding all this stuff when America, I would have imagined, isn't as desperate as countries that don't have The built in Ego, I would have imagined or resources partarticularly on the back of Qatar in Russia. So Qatar was a a nation building project And Russia was, I guess, a nation furnishing project in some ways And therefore, these places really wanted this tournament. They were desperate for it. It was a real national event. Now, I'm not saying America doesn't want the World Cup because I think manyany people in the states do want the World Cup and will enjoy the World Cup. and the soccer will be fantastic and it'll all be great However They don't need it in the same way are some of these other places And even within the states themselves, like Kansas City maybe needs this tournament more than New York or LA. or Miami you then come up against cities who are saying Ager Who do you think you are? And this was crystallized in a meeting that I was told about which took place at Sofi Stadium stadium near Los Angeles in Inglewood And this would have been when all the cities were doing their kind of pitches to FIFA and FIFA were pitching to them And it would have been late twenty twenty one And you had all the big sports leaders or representatives, the big sports teams in a room at Sofi Stadium and you had FIFA executives And FFA were sending out, this is how it works. This is what we get, this is what you get And then the head of the LA Sports Commission, Ps her hand up and says orry, can I just check what exactly Are we getting out of this and The answer that she got was essentially This will put Los Angeles on the map Right And That's fascinating, because it gives you an insight into how FIFA perceive themselves that this is the biggest thing in the world. and soccer is the biggest sport in the world, right? Absolutely. And it does have a huge reach and a huge there's a globality to it that enables these places to reach new things Then You know, I spoke someone who was in the room for that meet. they're saying Hango with' the place of the Oscars, the Grammys, the Emies of Hollywood of the doodgers, the Lakers and FIFA are going to put us on the map. Yeah, I believe the quote in your article in the athletic was What did he just say I think that's it is that sense of you know we're start out We don't need you guys. You need us. or we need each other We don't owe you in the way that perhaps some of these other places that have been bidding for World Cups may have that sense. And something we really prize on this show is to whatever extent possible, getting an unvarnished of accounting of ego And so one of the people that you talk to is someone who I want to introduce to our audience in case you weren't famamiliar with His l of work So I guess first of all, if we just go back to the beginning of Adam and Eve. Yeah of Adam and, I Adem, you can be may help me win the Democratic primary It may do. it may do. Maybe we can get on to that Ram Emanuel, former U.S. Cgressman, White House Chief of staff under Barack Obama, who is kindind of unsubtly interested in potentially beccoming the presresident of the United States in twenty twenty eight Also, most crucially here The mayor of Chicago from when to when? fromrom twenty eleven to twenty nineteen. So it would have been during the period in which cities were in conversations about potentially hosting the World Cup Right. And he has been, I would say Sports curious for a long time, although his background is in Ballet which just gives an excuse to show this photo But this is also the guy who got the NFL draft to leave New York got the NHL draft, Chicago, got the NBA All Star game. very strategically wanted these big sporting events for his city I remember they said, Well, this will be a great marketing. for the city I said I don't need you for Mercety I just had the NFL draft I don't need you I said, you think Chicago needs you for marketing I said not happening. And I can't monetize. Meting You're taking cash. And I get a marketing dollar of some intrinsic value I said I just I said, I don't know who you talk to, who you negotiate with I said I'm not doing that. I'm not like the smartest businessman I said past eighth grade math and the numbers don't work I should clarify that we he here at Palati finds out a podcast supported by advertising. Loves marketing. We love it But if you're the guy leading Chicago and you're getting the sales pitch And you're saying, we need something more concrete than the promise of brand value It feels like That would be a hard sticking point. And it wasn't just What he just said there about marketing. I mean he goes on to explain There was lots of other challenges that Chicago had when they were looking at the deal It involved potential commitments to what is described in FIFA's contracts as stadium overlay and kind of FIFA reserving the right to ask for adjustments or modifications to the stadium what he says they ask for was something pretty unique and pretty hard to imagine what is a historic venue, which is Soldier Field And I was trying to work my way to a yes because I too is lured by this is one of the biggest events in the world. a sporting event, it would be a big thing for the city. Then they said in the contract They had the right to request dome being built over soldier field. And I said, Well, I'm not I said, you gott to take that out. They go, Well, we never exercise it, but it's something we ask everybody. said I don't care if you've never exerciseed. there will always be a first. takeake it out. And also you, we can work through the other issues. and they said, we're not going to we can't take it out. I said, if you're not taking this out That was kind of like, The straw that broke the camel's bassid You can't have something in there. that That leaves the city and the taxpayers exposed And I just said, no I said, if it's not out, we're out What's so interesting is that for Rah Emmanuel, this was a line that he cannot cross. and I get it. like putting a hat on soldier field is crazy, but at the same time, other cities They're letting FIFA play around with their buildings. The NFL is giving way to soccer in ways that are Comically Tangible There is this concept that we find as we get to page one hundred and twenty six in this again, the host agreement case study that we have in this folder We have this thing called the Can Stadium obligation. Can you explain, Adam what this means? Yes, the clean stadium obligation. Well, this is a great one because this is something which I think is is pretty common with mega sporting events actually But I don't think it's very common in America. And it sounds a bit insane, I think to Americans. This is basically the idea that all of these stadiums around the country We know them. to the sponsor name. So in Atanta it's Mcedes Ben Stadium It's SOfi Stadium in L.A, it's Metlife, AT andT stadium in Dallas. Yes. You get the chist. And there are a few things more American than just internalizing corporate branding comp this is exactly the thing we also love. Completely. I mean, I guess one of them that wouldn't have been is Soldier Field. Yeah. You know, that doesn't have a sponsor now U However, when FIFA take over these stadiums, you have to wipe all of this branding from all official communications even This is an extraordinary thing. I don't know if the city have actually done this because it sounds too insane to do fourourteen days prior to the start of the first game for each city You have to get the directional signage in a place be the new stadium name So in what would ordinarily be a sign that says towards Met Life Stadium, it has to now say New York New Jery Stadium. New Jersey, New York. Right. I mean, God knows what they're going to do that. But that just gives an impression. And the whole city has even signed up to say that they will basically do their utmost to ensure that official government communications about a stadium will use the FIFA name rather than standard name. This is FIFA saying when the World Cup is happening in America, we are a universe That is consistent across this legal language. The stadium authority shall make any room, area, building, facility or section belonging to the stadium available for the competition according to the above requirements, which for avoid of doubt includes the entire premises. These requirements include no advertising, signage or other commercial identification of any kind on any stands, scoreboards seats, seatbacks, time clocks, staff uniforms, accreditation, passes, fences or elsewhere inside, surrounding or in the airpace above and around the stadium. otherther than that, which is installed by orrth Direction of Deer. airpace above and around the stadium. I mean, I'm not sure what. in the airpace in any case. Try and fly a plane Right. and we can even watch Kansas City remove the name of Typically what is known as GEHA field at Arowhead Stadium where the chiefs play. Here is a crane takaking away BA The last e I mean' just when you watch that, it just feels like it's sort of a satire documentary, right of some sort. I was hoping they would just have it as a field. Right. It is a field. Here it is. It's what you wanted. And it then became even more controversial becausecause one city got an exemption And this was Atlanta, Mercedes Ben Stadium. and that's because the position of The stadium made it simply physically too hard. cover up. I mean, they did all the res and checks to see if it would be possible. And the conclusion was they actually couldn't fix this. without doing damage or costing a completely absurd amount of money However, The other cities didn't know about this until it was reported by my colleague, Henry Bushnell And then I started getting calls from some cities saying, well, if they're not doing it, I just think that as a solutions oriented podcast, we could have been helpful in pointing out that you just draw one more line on the Mercedes Ben's insignia, which is on the hood of this stadium And you know, suddenly you have a peace symbol, Adam. Just a little graffiti. FIFA, of course, have done a partnership with Trump's Board of Peace. So it could have been We could have made money. We all could have made money on this. We don't make money from peace. We would never do that. Never, never, never, never So just from the level of control. I'm just thinking of like Now putting all the characters in the same room together. I'm thinking of Rob Emanuel I'm thinking of Johnny and Fantino A a table. And what that Howow might have sounded like That said, I don't know what any other mayor or governor is doing, but you expect me to treat the Chicago taxpayers as the dumb money at the table? They' got to be kidding me I'm not giving you Taxpayer money pers are going to be on the line for hundred percent of the ris I said, I'm not signing it. And I was supposed to pay for one hundred percent of what they wanted I didn't even do that on my first date with my wife with u One of the things we saw others state Can you take that out? No, I'm joking Its So Rom in the end, Chicago reallyally in the end They said No. They said no. in the end. they had the reservations over the sponsorship, the stadium issue with the dome about dropping sales tax on ticket admissions It all basically led the city of Chicago with the impression that they would be left in debt that they would lose money by doing this. So they said no, but the way they said no was actually quite fun are mischievous because FIFA had said to them You know, when they'd sent over documents, they said, we don't want any red lines. We just want the signed version. Of course, We're not negotiating just here it So what did this what did Chicago do They signed it. No blemishes, no redlines. But they putull in asterisks underneath and it listed out all of their concerns, knowing that FIFA would never agree to those terms. So technically Chicago did sign the documents and didn't withdraw per se because I guess FIFA would have been the final party in that to say no But they presented it in such a mischievous and complex way that it was never going to be accepted Right, which is to say that Chicago in the end said u will'll play by your rules, but also I'll let you say that And I should say FIFA declines to comment on all of that Very good Hello, it's me Pablo We have been very interested in what you guys actually like about this show. And so in the show notes, there is a survey You'll find it magically as a link somewhere down there. And you can tell us what you want more of, what you want less of, what annoys you about me. potentially all of my friends. We will use this to improve the show. It takes like thirty seconds. so please fill it out And we will make this better I want to turn us to Dallas because Dallas, I mean, in the NFL and American sports, this is The biggest thing Dry Jones, the cowboys, all of that But what FIFA is getting from this city Pretty remarkable atom Yeah, so when FIFA go to a place, they need and not unreasonably, they need what they call their kind of international broadcast center. So that's where sort of your TV, your radio, your digital media will'll spend a lot of time and That venue, it's like a twenty for seven access for thousands of people during that time But who do you think paid for it? After all the conversationations we've had, who do you think might have paid for it? Who paid for a five hundred thousand square foot command media center? I'm gonna guess The city of Dallas. Wow, you're getting good at this, right? You're starting to catch on. I'm an investigatative a reporer. Right. Tell me about it with a document that now can helpfully point out that on august fifteenth, twenty twenty five this is A city of Dallas insignia piece of paper, memorandum across the top Two, honorable Mayor and members of the City Council International Broadcast Center, IBC. We'll serve as the hub of television, radio, and digital coverage for the tournament from january fourteenth to august twenty fourth, twenty twenty six. The venue will operate under FIFA's exclusive control, providing twenty forty seven access for thousands of international journalists and technical staff. The City council and city leadership have committed to capital improvements, including roof repairs, drainage enhancements, climate control upgrades, and infrastructure modifications to meet FIFA's technical and operational requirements an investment capped sixteen million Whichever willll be relieved that it's only fifteen million dollars for. I'm glad it's capped at fifteen billion do. I was worried, man. can we least keep it below fifteen million doars dollars in public money. and PIFa itself invested how much of this? FIFA did not thr As far as I know, any of this So it's pretty remarkable really. And I mean, the best bit is what do you think happens to this after the World Cup? This thing that's being constructed for a cap of fifteen million dollars. I am hoping it becomes Some sort of mall, some sort of some beautiful community center somewhere where people can come together. It's like a sculpture that lets us remember the friends we made along the way Now he's getting knocked down So That's that, really? I'm not sure what more we can can kind of add to it. But but you spin around the map here and The wrecking ball of FIFA Cing for the things that they're demanding to be constructed I do want to go to the Midwest now because Kansas City They've got to be The smallest of the eleven host cities I think population wise, yeah, around just over two million maybe. A proud soccer legacy. Proud soccer legacy. They sort of call themselves the soccer capital. They do have kind of an MLS team. They have a Kansas City current, don't they as well in the NWSL a fantastic stadium actually in Kansas Cillity for the women's team. I think it was the first women's specific facility that was built. and they also appeaar to have fantastic training facilities because Argentina, which is the current holders of the Men's World Cup England who are not the current holders of the Mantworld Cup, but maybe the future win O day. it's coming home eventually. It's coming home eventually. it's just on a long gum. Like me it's on a long g. Yeah It's on loan. It's on loan. to every other nation in the world, seemingly. So Argentina, England, the Netherlands, and Algeria will all be using Kansas City as their base But nonetheless Amid these six games, Kansas City Kansas City Stadium exxcuse me is hosting You know, they might get the quarterfal, they might get messing Ronaldo. This is I get it. shouldould jump on that because this could be actually one of the most extraordinary World Cup games ever. Messi and Ronaldo have never played each other. at a World Cup. and this will be their last World Cup. I mean, to be fair, he's like the Ronaldo refuses to retire, so who knows? But you would expect he might be seeking yet another term. Right as well. Yes.bsolutely Like Gianni and potentially someone else. Y. But we think you'll be the last one. It'd be the first time they've ever played each other. It relies on both teams winning their groups and getting through to the quarter final. But if they do so, the roots, the brackets, which Americans love I'm told are L bracketology means that they would meet in Kansas City, which is an absurd kind of idea, right that these kind of two gladiators of soccer would eventually meet in Kansas Silly. So that would be an amazing game And so what did the public pay for the possibility, the privilege of hosting such matches Well, I mean, this is just what ub and just what the host Camillia said to us. so this doesn't include private donors, which would also be a very big number. I would imagine. forty two point five million do from the state of Missouri because Kansas Cillity is in Missouri. That's right, which is not easy to understand. There is a Kansas. Which is separate. Yeah. But then the state of Kansas has also given twenty eight million dollars fourourteen point eight million from Kansas City itself. and another one point five million do from other public sources. So that brings us to eighty six almost eighty seven million do investment just from The state of Missouri, the state of Kansas is Kansas City Then There's also sixty Ish million from federal security assistance which was signed off by the Trump administration And also thirteen point three million in federal grants towards transportation costs We're coming in there. A at least one hundred seventy five millionh. That's just what's being disclosed at this point That's a lot. that's a lot of money. I six hundred fifty thousand visitors is what tourist board of the region, visit KC. that's what they're saying. But I should say just to interrupt on that. Visit KC of said six hundred fifty thousand visitors But actually, I think eighty percent of hotels who were surveyed recently by the Hotel Association were saying they are seeing lower than expected Kicks So there is a lot of skepticism at the moment. in Kansas Cilly that they will hit that target But speaking of accommodations, there is particular bigig ticket item funded by taxpayers in Kansas City Again, required a bit of a pop up construction here, Adam. Yeah. I mean, this is of all the stories, I think in the leadead upps to the World Cup, this is one of the more bizarre ones. A modular jail So it feels to me a bit popuppy in that sense. Did you know that Kansas City has not had a jail sent about two thousand nine doeses that surprise you? It is surprising because we live in we live in America. Right. I was going to say, something America I thought could do, I thought it would be a city with jail. Yeah, we do incarceration. R. So they've not had in jail since two thousand nine that has been sort of something that's been spoken about in the city for a while. There's been some pressure from local businesses, Now Some of the city council members started to get the feeling of We're going to have a World Cup and we could have six hundred fifty thousand visitors and some of those smaller petty crimes could really start to ramp up. becausecause what they do at the moment is transport people over fifty miles out of town jails in kind of neighboring places So they said, we need a jail. And they said we need a jail quickly because we might need it during the World Cup. There could be a streaker There could be, who knows. A guy in a wolf costume could turn into a bank robber again. Yeah. And I think it was maybe based on pererceptions of soccer fans that some people would argue are fair and accurate, that other people would say our typecast and a little bit outdated. Yeah, desespite your accent, hooliganism is known to us here. Right. Well, you've not seen my hooliganism yet.. There's still time left of the show. So there could have been issues whether it's, you know, people consume a lot of alcohol, if there's games between, I don't know I don't know. I don't think Brazil and Arentina would play in Kansas city against each other, but you know, where there's rivalry games. Blood feuds, geopolitical conflicts coming home to roost inside of A field Exactly, or even in the broader city, fan zones, etcera So they said we need this temporary jail before we can build our long planned bigger jail So twenty two million dollars was committed to building this. And then a further three point eight million was signed off in January with the aim of trying to ensure the construction of this jail, which would have had, I think, just over a hundred beds or so ahead of the World Cup. This is now twenty five point eight in totality. who pays for that The funding comes from something called the public safety sales tax, which is essentially quarter ccent sales tax From what I can see, that's around twenty four million that that brings in a year So this is essentially over the years Budget in order to do that I should say, there was also a city cououncil meeting in March at City Hall in Kansas Silly of the transportation infrastructure Turations Committee. Good morning Committee. and chair. I'm Rana Reyes, a city architect with General Services I'm just going to go over a brief construct update on the Front Street detention center formerly known as the temporary facility And the city architect gave a construction update in which she provided some of the images for this jail. We'll see that Itels like guys stitches Yeah It's a big building. It's two hundred by two hundred and fifty feet. That's just what those pre engineer metal buildings look like. Right there that little bump out is the Sally port. That's where vehicles will drive in, drop off and then drive out your window And in case you thought you heard a city councilwoman say It looks like an iced detention center. likeike whispering it You are correct. She did say that and it does look like that, Adam. as we see also the observation at the end No windows. Yeah. And I should say, I mean, Melissa Robinson. Good morning, Melissa Robinson, our district Vice chair Who is the council member who said that actually voted to approve the project. So this was city cououncil members, I guess seeing the fruits of what they had voted for This is like the worst episode of House Hunters. Looks like an iced detention center. Y We love it. It's like, what have we done here? It's a storage unit. It looks like a warehouse. I mean it is functionally a warehouse that you retrofit into a detention center. Right. And I think the architect subsequently said that kind of skylights would be cut in to the building somewhere to give some natural light Um But but yeah, not not great. Yeah And like as as much as I can follow the logic. part that jumps out to me is that this is public money going towards the construction of this modular jail that is being built by a private contractor whose previous work is also worth noting here. whyy is it worth noting Pabbla because the company's name is KBR and you may know them from previous detaineee facilities such as the one at Guantanamo Bay whichich is again, just like great. Glad we got the Fuontanamo Bay guys Kansas City. I'm glad the World Cup has brought us all together in this global village and justust the construction, the completion date of this It said May of twenty six And this is the catch of the whole thing. The World Cup jail is not ready for the World Cup. So the anticipated completion date of may twenty twenty six, it's not ready. A spokesperson for the City manager's office told me Detainees will now not be housed at the centre to join the World Cup at all They kind of said it is ready, but it's not operational. So that to me would suggest it's not ready They blamed the manufacturer delivery schedule, staffing delays And while they said, and this is a quote, the World Cup was referenced in the ordinance and legislative process as part of the timing and urgency around the project, The purpose of the facility is broader than the Wor Cup We were always trying to do this pop up jail in anticipation of the full time prison. then this is just multiple multiple birds, one single soccer ball shaped stoke You know what's funny We spend all this time talking about resumes and credentials and experience, but according to CNBC, nearly half of hiring managers say the most important thing they look for is enthusiasm. Does this person actually want this job? 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And now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter d. com slash pTFO That iprecruiter d. com slash PTFO Meet your match Unsip reccruit I want to apologize to our audience because we are making you do some basic math here. These are big numbers, trying to track ' them, trying to see what is the cost, what is the benefit And this brings us to The thing I gotta llustrate before we let everyone go here, before we free you from our private prison, the studio. because Johnny Fentino at the start promised thirirty billion dollars And people have been complaining about ticket prices And now it seems There was this solution FIFA was going to do something quite generous for the public actually becausecause they agreed to waive what sales taxes on tickets Now. This was kind of part of the Bid expectations from FIFA, that sales tax on tickets would not be applied and manyany of the states actually push back on this. You know New Jersey is continuing to apply sales tax on tickets. Pennsylvania is But three states agreed to do it, such was their I guess desperation or eagerness to secure the World Cup. So the state of Georgia, which is Atlanta the state of Florida, Miami, and the state of Missouri, once again off friends in Kansas Cillity who are putuning so much in to this tournament and That sales tax When you combine what has been left on the table by cities through waving, particularly now that the ticket price is are a lot higher than anyone thought they were going to be.. It combines to almost sixty million dollars Yeah, the sales tax for Missouri was going to be eight five percent, which, you know, again, the way tax works. costs customers money. Make it more expensive provide some back for the cities and therefore the public in terms of what the state had available to make back in terms of those costs and benefits That's why people do it because it's almost a way of getting a slice of the revenue And what's really interesting about this is if we just take that Missouri world. Yeah, let's focus on just one case study here They did a fiscal analysis before this was approved, which you attached to the bill, the fiscal note And it was done by the Committee on Legislative Research in Missouri's oververssight Division And they made some presumptions Now their presumptions were actually based on Well, they said they were based on the lastast World Cup in Qatar in twenty twenty two The reality is and they actually made a mistake, they were based on the twenty eighteen World Cup in Russia So that presumption wait, I'm sorry I just assumed that they had one job here, which was can you just calculate this? and Their calculation you're saying was Well it was impossible to know. We should say that, right? Like you can't know in twenty twenty two what FIFA are going to set as the priceices in twenty twenty six. That's where we should give some grace. Sure. However They used numbers from twenty eighteen. So which is not twenty twenty two, which is no no scoring at all. No And so what is the gap between what Missouri thought it was giving up versus what it was actually giving up by waiving taxes on ticket sales? I guess a couple of things we should clarify. Firstly, when they were making these calculations, the actual number of games hadn't yet been awarded. They didn't know how many games they would get or which games they would get now What they did was because if you would just apply their methodology of using twenty eighteen prices to the actual games they were given, it would have come out at basically leaving five point nine million dollars on the table. However of the actual prices and what we did was take an average of all of FIFA's ticket drops, which have been many comomes out as fifteen point seven million compared to that five point nine million So that is a huge gap really in terms of what the expectation was and a lot of money really that could have gone into a mixture of the state and local taxes based on admissions for the people of Missouri and Kansas City And by the way, just to clarify, like that is a conservative estimate. You're being very responsible because Hospitality pricing, the secondary market ticket resales where FIFA is taking fifteen percent from the buyer and the seller. That's not even incorporated into Yes So we were kind. We were really kind to these states because we don't what you never want to do in this case is grossly overestimate and then they come back at you and say this is irresponsible. gross overestimation is the thing we're all trying to to avoid equally We don't know at this stage if we've presumed that FIFA are going to sell out And there are some questions at this point as whether these stadiums will actually sell out, such as being the price point and some of the chaos that's been surrounding ticket sales All of this is to say that FIFA in response to your reporting in response to this folder full of documents What do they say They've not really replied for this collection of stories. So that's that I guess they would say that you know, they've they commit money through the three point seven billion that they spend on the World Cup but obviously bigig amount of that is basically prize money for players and federations And as I said at the stall Nobody forced a city to apply for this. Nobody forced a city to agree to these terms. And so there is one last document in your folder, which I want to read from because this one acknowledges a bunch of what he just said in writing And this one is ated november seventeenth, twenty five It's to the CEO of the US. Soccer Federation And I just want to read through what some of this says because it's signed by yeah, a bunch of US host cities Seven actual World Cup men's World Cup h cities for this summer and then twenty one potential U. S. host cities for the twenty thirty one Women's World Cup, which is very interesting because what this whole document, the highlighted part we want to read here, is suggesting is that quote, as you are aware, many US host cities are currently working through significant operational, financial and contractual challenges stemming from the terms of the existing FIFO World Cup twenty six hosting arrangements And so This acknowledges the complexity and the frustration. that has been conveyed through numbers and through your reporting and What was the response when US soccer received this letter Well, the great thing about this is they didn't send a letter They did not send a letter. They got it all of these cities sent. All of these cities came together in November because what FIFA wanted was to start getting agreements signed for the twenty thirty one World Cup before the twenty six World Cup had even started to see it written down by the cities and signed by all of these city representatives. So all that stuff we've been talking about, naming rights on stadiums, local taxes, all of those topics. They say that we are firmly committed to delivering a successful FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States, One that is financially responsible, operationally feasible and positioned to create lasting legacy benefits I mean, it's acknowledging the very thing that course seemems far harder to accomplish. Yeah. And the reason they didn't send it is because I subsequently saw some correspondence between the cities which basically said it was for PR reasons. They were worried that the letter would get out. and of course the letter would never get out, would it Pablo? This is, I should say, not only a great exhibit in journalism, but it is also a great exhibit in what it means to be American. Adam Crafton. And if you want to stick around here onn behalf of America and also And I will demand this. New York slash New Jersey I do think I also should probably apologize on some level because this has been probably all harder than it than it should have been Thank you for having me. appppreciate it This has been Pablo Torere findinds out, a Meadalark media production And I'll talk to you next time