Hey Sepp, can you spare a dime?
FIFA, fresh off of the heels of their amazing and transparent World Cup Selection, has stumbled in their plan for worldwide brand domination: their main product licensing agent is filing for bankruptcy.
The Singapore-based Global Brands Group (GPG) was awarded a seven-year contract from through 2014, and are responsible for the branded products for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Remember all those hideous “FIFA 2010″ logos and t-shirts seen all summer? Yep, they came from this group.
FIFA, being the beacon of Transparency and Fair Play, failed to release the terms of the deal, part of which involved the opening of FIFA-branded stores in major cites, such as London, Los Angeles, Tokyo… and Singapore? (Oh yea, GBG; you’re based there, and you put the first store in the Singapore airport, where you have a negotiated a sports concession contract.)
As for where this leaves FIFA, I would say probably sitting pretty. I’d bet that they have a clause in the contract where the rights revert to FIFA if the company doesn’t honor certain parts of the contract. Then, Sepp’s underlings can re-sell the contract for another price to some Emir in Qatar for a large pile of cash, effectively getting paid twice for the same product. Not bad, eh?
Of course, Sepp ‘Dollar Bill’ Blatter will speak stoically of the travails of GBG, all the while licking his chops for some more cash. Just another day in Zurich.
If FIFA were a country, would they be in the Axis of Evil by now?
Or better yet, which country is FIFA most like? North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, USA?
Russia, it’s ruled by $$
I was thinking Iran or North Korea because of the batshit insane leaders. Maybe Saudia Arabia since it sits on a huge pile of money-making goodness, but I don’t know how batshit insane its leaders are.
@TFA – FIFA’s got the corruption of Russia mixed with the lunacy of Iran or North Korea. It would be the worst country of all time.
@Orr–that’s kinda where I was heading in my mind but i stopped because it was too horrifying.