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Last week the U.S. lost its bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar.  Yes, Qatar . FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke watches on as Sepp Blatter congratulates Qatar. Source: Anja Niedringhaus / AP We did beat out South Korea, Japan and Australia to make it to the final round but then got beat by Qatar with an overwhelming 14-8 vote.  This loss comes especially hard after our recent loss to Brazil as host for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Qatar got selected as a consequence of International Sport Committees moving to new territories, specifically, away from highly industrialized Western nations and towards Eastern and Southern nations.  The most recent FIFA games in South Africa are an example of this.

A global television audience of more than 700 million viewers is expected to watch the World Cup final on Sunday. FIFA signed deals allowing every country in the world to watch the Netherlands play Spain, head of television Niclas Ericson said. "We have coverage everywhere of the FIFA World Cup," Ericson said. "We think (Sunday's match) will be bigger than the 2006 World Cup final which was I believe around 700 million." Ericson said FIFA expects a record audience Sunday for a sports broadcast in Spain, and a market share of more than 90 percent of Dutch viewers. If the World Cup final meets predictions, it will beat the estimated 600 million audience for the opening ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "I think this is the first time anyone has succeeded with in more or less placing the rights in every territory," Ericson said.