World Expo vs World Cup
- Source: Global Times
- [10:02 April 27 2010]
- Comments
By Sam Engineer
There's a huge global event taking place this summer that will set pulses racing for millions of people all over the world and completely consume the attention of entire nations and sectors of society. No, this is not more World Expo hyperbole, I'm talking about the 2010 World Cup!
Such is the blanket Expo coverage across Shanghai, and indeed throughout China, that you could be forgiven for thinking that the only event of any global significance this summer was taking place on the banks of the Huangpu River (this may be due to the fact that China will not be competing in the World Cup as it has been effectively knocked out by football powerhouse Iraq).
This has led me to draft a comparison between the two events in an attempt to answer the question, which is bigger?
The World Cup will take place in South Africa over the course of one month, from June 11 to July 11, and is expected to draw some 400,000 foreign spectators, combined with an expected cumulative TV viewership somewhere north of 26 billion, according to sportsbusiness.com.
In comparison, the World Expo will run for 184 days, from May 1 to October 31, during which 70 million visitors are expected to visit the pavilions of some 190 countries and regions.
Thus far all seems fairly even, but what will visitors be able to do at these two events? In South Africa, fans can marvel at the mercurial and once-in-a-lifetime talents of Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney, while World Expo vistors will be able to gaze at Luxembourg's Gelle Fra (golden lady) and the delights of the Oil Pavilion! Advantage: South Africa.
Not so fast though. What about the all important mascots? Well, we all recognize Haibao as the Expo mascot and, dare I say, talisman? But what does the World Cup have in response? Zakumi! Half man, half leopard, he follows in the illustrious footsteps of the rooster from France in 1998 and Juanito the Bandito from Mexico in 1970.
It's hard to give an edge either way, but one has to lean in favor of the World Cup once again. Zakumi, while adhering to the standard mascot manifesto of being cheesy and pointless, is actually based on a creature native to South Africa, and stirs up visions of hot days in the savannah on safari. Haibao, on the other hand, is an unidentifiable mass that makes one wonder - what it is, although the designer said Haibao originated from the Chinese character "people".
So perhaps we should rephrase the initial question and ask not which is bigger, but why has the World Cup been so neglected throughout Shanghai?
Undoubtedly, the absence of the Chinese team does not help - nor does the constant chatter of corruption that has surrounded Chinese football following the recent scandals - but not having a shot at glory shouldn't render the World Cup null and void. After all, Spain and England boast the best domestic leagues in the world but share a solitary World Cup victory between them - and one strongly aided by home field advantage and a linesman with a grudge.
Ultimately, the lack of attention to the World Cup can be viewed as Expo organizers operating a zero-sum game. Anything that focuses attention away from the World Expo is bad, so publicity is at a minimum even though I suspect public interest is actually rather high.
Alas, it seems that the town I call home will fail to fully bask in the glory of what promises to be one of the great World Cups. There is no clear favorite, and temperate conditions give no team the upper hand.
While the Expo will no doubt be a landmark event in the recent history of Shanghai, and greatly eclipse previous the host cities Roostock and Haarlemmermmer, merely going to a country's pavilion to view their history can't stir the passions in the same way that watching its star athletes battle it out can.
