Many Americans had two reactions when they heard about the scandals involving Sepp Blatter’s FIFA, the international organization that runs world soccer. The first response was “who’s Sepp Blatter?” And the second was “who cares?”
Americans care about soccer for about a half hour every four years during the World Cup. I’m generally in that camp. If I want to watch a game with a lot of pointless running around that ends in a score of 1-0, I can watch the Brewers.
But the mess at FIFA (the U.S. Justice Department has charged 14 high-ranking officials there with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering) is not a surprise, and we should care only because it’s a reflection of the state of sports we might otherwise actually enjoy.
The organization has long been thought of as, at best, a massive money machine for egotistical old boys club types like Sepp Blatter and, at worst, absolutely corrupt through and through. Blatter’s arrogance was on full display when the 79-year-old, who has run the organization for 17 years, refused to accept any blame for the scandal and fought for yet another five-year term as its president. He toasted his victory late last week but was toast only four days later. On Tuesday he announced he’d resign, probably because the money machine in the form of soccer’s biggest corporate sponsors threatened to malfunction. Coke called his resignation a “positive step.” For the record, he said he was leaving for the love of the game. Also for the record, he was most likely lying.
We can cluck all we want about soccer’s troubles but there really isn’t a big sports organization in the world that is worthy of much respect. The International Olympic Committee has long been a bastion of the same kind of corruption now being exposed at FIFA, and they have a fascist lineage to boot. The NFL rakes in the millions while it plays down the long-term health crisis for its players from concussions. The NCAA seems to exist for the purpose of paying seven-figure salaries to its executives, whose main job is to make sure that college players earn nothing at all. In fact, every commissioner of every professional league (I count big-time college revenue sports as semi-professional) is employed by team owners to protect their money-making interests over the pecuniary interests of the players and the entertainment interests of the fans.
Sepp Blatter seems to be the poster old boy for this kind of thing. Bloated and vain, fighting hard to maintain his position and his paycheck even as he entered his ninth decade, he was unlikable the minute I began to learn anything about him. All tanned scalp and gray hair in an expensive suit. But he’s NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell or NCAA President Mark Emmert in 20 years. Same guy, different language, less hair.
The scandal at FIFA and the fall of Blatter aren’t some anachronism confined to Europe. They’re a reflection of the condition of modern big-money sports. And even as Blatter steps aside, nothing will change. You can bet that a younger version of Blatter will take over, make some cosmetic changes, and hold onto his job for 20 years so long as he keeps printing money.
Look hard enough at this kind of thing, and it’s enough to make a sports fan decide that Scrabble could be a lot of fun.
