Business of Sport: Football history will be made today when FIFA announces which African country will host the 2010 World Cup.Daire Whelan
For the first time in the 80 years of the competition, the decision will go to an African country from a list of five which have been vying for the right to host one of the biggest sports competitions in the world.
Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and the favourites, South Africa, have been courting Sepp Blatter's attention with prime ministers and presidents giving their public support and calling for their country to be the chosen one.
The 24-man FIFA executive committee, comprising 10 European, five Asian, four African, four American/Caribbean and one Middle Eastern member, have the power to add an estimated $500 million to the winning country's economy so it is understandable why the likes of Nelson Mandela have been wheeled out to add to the campaigns.
"In this year of celebration there could be few better gifts to us in our 10th year of democracy than to be awarded the 2010 World Soccer Cup," declared Mandela last week before adding that 150,000 jobs would be created and help ease the 40-per-cent unemployment rate if South Africa won the vote.
While South Africa are favourites to host the competition, the other African countries have their own agendas, and there are powerful economic and political factors at play in their bids.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came out supporting Morocco's efforts after his visit to the North African country, during which Spain and Morocco announced a new era of co-operation in the wake of the Madrid bombings, which were traced to six Moroccans.
For Morocco, currently fighting a rise in militant Islamism in their country, winning this World Cup bid would be a shot in the arm.
In Libya, many see Colonel Gaddafi's interest as an attempt at gaining further acceptance by the western world, the most recent example of that growing acceptance being his very public meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and two-day visit to Brussels.
What Gaddafi would give to put Libya on the map in 2010 and be fully accepted by Europe and much of the world with a World Cup on Libya's soil.
It is Egypt's first time bidding, which will go against them (Morocco lost by one vote for 1994, and ditto South Africa for 2006), although they have brought the former UN General Secretary Boutros Boutros Ghali on board to present the bid.
Finally, Tunisia are the rank outsiders, but have had the experience of hosting this year's African Nations' Cup and have been highlighting their already well-developed tourist infrastructure.
For at the end of the day, the right to host the 2010 World Cup becomes a bidding war in an attempt to buy a multi-million-dollar competition so as to have the eyes of the world on the winning country and reap the resultant economic benefits.
Today's ballot is secret and works in rounds, with those polling last being eliminated until there is a clear winner of 12 votes.
The winning country will then be announced to the awaiting press and for the host of the 2010 World Cup the real panicking can start.
Athens Olympics cover goes through the roof
Ireland's presidency of the EU has meant the Garda and the Olympic Council of Ireland have been kept abreast of the security developments from the Athens Olympic authorities. A general security briefing has been arranged for 10 days' time in Lausanne, which OCI and Garda representatives will attend.
The Olympic countries are being discouraged from bringing individual security as 220 separate arrangements would be a potential meltdown.
The Athens organising committee are working closely with NATO and international intelligence agencies while also spending €1 billion on their security budget (three times more than Sydney and 50 per cent more than the original estimate). Half of the country's security forces will be deployed; more than 45,000 armed guards will be on the streets of Athens, where 2,000 CCTV cameras will be in operation, with NATO assisting air and sea patrols.
With the IOC having taken out $170-million insurance cover in case of the full or partial cancellation of the Games because of terrorism, earthquake or other catastrophe, you might be surprised to learn Ireland's Olympic insurance costs have not been dramatically affected post 9-11.
A spokesperson for the OCI has confirmed insurance costs are going up but not dramatically and not in light of security fears: "We're not a high-risk or high-profile team like America, for example, which has numerous big stars on their team," says the spokesperson.
The Irish team won't be announced until July 7th. There is general liability cover taken by the IOC and there is the cover taken by the sports organisations for their various athletes. It is reckoned Ireland's Olympic insurance cover will costs less than €250,000.
However, the spokesperson confirmed Ireland's most high-profile runner, Sonia O'Sullivan, would have her own insurance, as would a few of the showjumpers. And if teams like the sailing team are going to base themselves outside the Olympic village to be nearer to their competition area, that will be at their own risk.
Beneath the security scares and headlines over whether the venues will be finished on time, this seems to be an Olympics where the public and media are concentrating more on off-pitch activities.
Fans stop major sponsor reaching even first base
Just when you begin to despair and think sports organisations will take money from anywhere (Liverpool FC and a certain Thai prime minister for example) fan power occasionally bites back.
Public outcry in recent weeks has meant Major League Baseball have pulled their planned deal with Columbia Pictures to place six-by-six-inch Spider-Man 2 logos on first, second and third bases during MLB games in June - all as a marketing gimmick to promote the release of Spider-Man 2.
The deal was reported to be worth approximately $2.5 million (chump change in American sports really) but remarkably, the hue and cry from fans has forced marketing execs to think twice about the deal. In an ESPN.com SportsNation poll of almost 45,000 readers, 79.4 per cent said they thought baseball was "selling out" by allowing the Spider-Man 2 advertisements on the field.
"We saw some of the polls on the Internet that said 71 and 81 per cent of the fans didn't approve of it," Geoffrey Ammer, president of worldwide marketing for the Columbia-Tri-Star Motion Picture Group, told ESPN.com.
"Based on this reaction from the fans, we didn't want to do anything to take away from their enjoyment of the game and if that was the case with this element of the promotion, we could afford to do without it."
American multi-billion-dollar corporation listens to what the fans say and pulls plug on deal that would have been worth millions? In America of all places?
I smell a rat . . .
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£10,000 - Amount that England's first football "chants laureate" Jonny Hurst has received.
0 - Amount awarded to tonight's Eurovision winner.
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