The Minister of Tourism and Sports has some wise words against the outlandish proposal to bid, jointly with Indonesia, for the 2034 World Cup. If anything, Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul should have been stronger. Even though the plan to pursue such a project is still being formed, Ms Kobkarn, with her good business sense, has pointed out some of the follies and the cabinet should pay heed to her opinion. The massive investment required just to bid should disqualify this effort.
The surprise of a Thai-Indonesian bid to host a split-nation World Cup 2034 actually began with Indonesia. Jakarta was an easily disqualified bidder for World Cup 2022. So last July, Joko Driyono, the vice-president of Indonesia's football association, PSSI, proposed a bid to Fifa by what he then called a Southeast Asian consortium. Last month in Bali, at a conference of the Asian Football Federation (AFF) council, the "consortium" had shrunk to two countries.
Somyot Poompunmuang, president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), quickly endorsed Mr Driyono's proposal. And that was the point where he should have lost the support of Ms Kobkarn. "When we officially make a joint bid we would get funds from the government to build stadiums," he told the press.
Taxpayers might not be so cavalier about this. For a start, just to be considered to host the World Cup, a country (in this case two countries) must have 16 to 18 stadiums seating at least 40,000 each. Multiple stadiums must have 60,000 seats for World Cup semi-final matches, and 80,000 for the opening and closing matches.
That is a lot of new stadiums needed before a country can apply. And like many of the other requirements to be a World Cup host, Thailand will certainly face two prospects for these new stadiums. These will be turn into empty and slowly rotting facilities after a month of use, but construction bills will keep pouring in for several years.
The Thai bid for World Cup 2034 would amount to a massive amount of money -- hundreds of billions of baht -- for which Thailand will receive a month of publicity and a chance for the national team to play in the World Cup. For the first part, Thailand is one of the world's best-known countries already.
Moreover, the FAT already is committed to earning a spot in the World Cup with world-class play. This is both supported and admired by every citizen. Buying a spot by hosting the tournament is a step in the wrong direction.
And the prestige to be gained is questionable at best. The host of three years ago, Brazil, won little respect and massive bad publicity as it was unprepared, unsanitary, and its team uncompetitive. The number of post-World Cup tourists attracted to Brazil was tiny.
In an interview with Voice TV last week, Minister Kobkarn said, quite correctly, that the World Cup requires huge investment -- so large that it could deal an economic blow to the country. Thailand has gone through similar situations on a "small" scale with the Asian Games. They left unusable facilities and athletes' living quarters empty.
The World Cup would cost magnitudes more. We can learn from the experience of Brazil, the host of World Cup 2014, which spent US$1 billion just for infrastructure development.
Ms Kobkarn said help from the business sector would be needed if the plan would go ahead. She has this back to front. Any FAT involvement in a World Cup bid must be self-financing.
If FAT cannot raise supporting funds from business and the public sectors, it should simply drop the plan. The government must not commit taxpayers to any spending on behalf of this entirely commercial venture.
