*By Michael Teich*
FIFA, the organization that runs world soccer, can move past its shady history of bribery and corruption when its members vote Wednesday on which country will host the 2026 World Cup, said Buzzfeed investigative reporter Ken Bensinger.
The finalists include Morocco, which would be only the second African country to host international soccer's quadrennial championship, and a united North American bid by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
“It will be a massive test for FIFA,” said Bensinger, author of Red Card: How the U.S Blew the Whistle on the World's Biggest Sports Scandal. “It’s pretty obvious that the U.S is the choice. If FIFA selects Morocco, we might have a stinking sensation that things might not be cleaned up yet.”
The vote, to take place on the eve of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, will be the first under new rules established after the soccer world was rocked three years ago when U.S. investigators revealed generations of FIFA executives were involved in bribery schemes spanning decades.
Since the scandal, Bensinger said, FIFA has taken promising steps toward fixing its problems and improving its reputation, including adding women to the executive board for the first time and becoming more transparent about its voting procedures. This is the first time the World Cup will be awarded by a vote of all member organizations, not a small cadre of FIFA executives.
“Sports leagues that are transparent, not only do they avoid the scandal, but they also make more money,” Bensinger said. “Being transparent, being capitalist is good for the sport and good for its stakeholders, the fans, for everybody.”
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/world-cup-vote-may-signal-how-much-fifas-changed).
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019.
Following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling year that cleared the way for sports gambling, fans in seven states can bet on the upcoming Super Bowl for the first time ー and leaders in the budding industry are anticipating the Big Game will deliver their biggest day yet. “We expect the Super Bowl to be our single biggest day in the company’s history,” Mike Raffensperger, the chief marketing officer for betting platform FanDuel, told Cheddar.
FightCamp is a new fitness company that streams boxing classes from top instructors direct to consumers. The classes can be tailored to the needs of boxers at all levels of expertise ー from newbies to punching pros said co-founder Tommy Duquette.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Jan. 25, 2019.
The New York Knicks and its jersey sponsor, the website-building platform Squarespace, are doling out assists to four local businesses as part of the second annual "Make It Awards." "Partnering with Squarespace to help those entrepreneurs get their businesses to the next level was something we were very interested in doing and it's been a major hit," said MSG Sports' senior vice president of business operations, Kristin Bernert, in an interview on Cheddar.
The Delaware Blue Coats will make their debut Wednesday night at the brand new Philadelphia 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del., and the team will share the spotlight with an arena that boasts five stories, can seat 2,500 fans, and includes three NBA-regulation basketball courts. The flashy new arena was designed to promote youth sports in the state of Delaware and the greater Philadelphia region. "It's all geared towards youth," Chris Heck, the president of the Philadelphia 76ers, told Cheddar.
The NBA is transparent about its approval of legalized, regulated sports betting ー but the league is also clearly communicating that it wants a fair share of the money wagered on its games. "It's our view that if state governments are going to be authorizing private entities, in most cases casinos, to generate significant revenue ー billions of dollars of revenue ー off of the NBA competitions, that the NBA participate in some way," said the NBA's head of fantasy and gaming Scott Kaufman-Ross.
Former Green Bay Packer Ahman Green is a four time Pro Bowler, but he's also an avid gamer. When it comes to Halo he's just another fan that looks up to professionals like Proximitty and LethuL for help with his improving his skills.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday Jan. 23, 2019.
If there's one person aside from the 800,000 unpaid federal workers who is hoping the government shutdown ends soon, it's Keisha Lance Bottoms. The mayor of Atlanta is less than two weeks away from hosting Super Bowl LIII, which is a logistical and security nightmare even when the city's airport *isn't* being slowed down by mass TSA sick-outs. "I'm extremely concerned," Bottoms said of the possibility that the shutdown may continue through Super Bowl weekend.
