The FIFA World Cup can do wonders for tourism to any destination. Just ask the United States, France, Germany and now South Africa. Hence Australia is now asking, "Why not us?"
ESPN is reporting that the country/continent will submit a bid Friday to bring the World Cup to its shores in 2018 or 2022. The bid has support from some important entities in Australia's sports world, including Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Australian Football League (AFL).
"We are a safe pair of hands and have the experience, stability and certainty to hold such a major event,'' FFA chief executive Ben Buckley told ESPN. "The host cities and stadia we are using in our bid will showcase Australia to the rest of the world and combined with our sports loving culture and the friendliest volunteers in the world it will be a fantastic FIFA World Cup."
The significance of the potential impact the World Cup could have on Australia has been demonstrated as the AFL is ready to reschedule games and adjust its season to free up arena space for the global event.
"We have consistently supported Australia's bid for the World Cup as we have with other major sporting events,'' said Andrew Demetriou, boss of the AFL. "We know it will cause serious dislocation of our AFL season, including up to 90 games that will need to be relocated and/or rescheduled, but we also accept that all codes need to make accommodations to ensure major events come to Australia.''
The AFL signed Memorandum Of Understanding Sunday to permit use of its stadiums, including MCG, Perth's Subiaco Oval, Geelong's Skilled Stadium, Gold Coast Stadium and the Adelaide Oval, if the bid is successful.