It’s that time again and Brazil might as well be the center of the world. In case you weren’t aware, the World Cup is a pretty big deal. So much so that Brazil has spent an estimated $3.5 billion just on rebuilding their stadium. That really is an exorbitant amount of money and my first thought is, why? Surely there must be something to gain in order for Brazil to willingly invest that kind of cash. Otherwise it really would be just a gross allocation of resources that could be used to fund more positive things in the world. It turns out that there is, but the the impact that follows is not just decimals and dollars and it’s hard to quantify.
One example is that the for the last World Cup, FIFA agreed to a 0.4% tax on revenues that raised an estimated $48 million that helped 2 million children receive basic education. It is also supposed that kids who take up activities like sports are less likely to be on the streets doing drugs. The last World Cup champions were Spain, who’s citizens were divided on certain issues and in a state of political turmoil preceding it. After their victory however the nation stood much more united and experienced a period of relif from their sociopolitical woes. So maybe sports aren’t a completely useless waste of capital, but their benefit to society certainly is this very fractured esoteric thing.
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