U.K. Proposed `Special Laws' to Meet FIFA Demands on World Cup

[dipsydoodle]

The U.K. government today released details of “special laws” and guarantees it would have had to give soccer’s governing body if England had won the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

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The guarantees would have cost the U.K. about 250 million pounds ($404 million), the U.K. Treasury said in a letter to Bloomberg News. The tournament could have contributed between 2.1 billion pounds and 3.2 billion pounds to the U.K. economy, according to a report for the bid team. The Treasury said no government money was loaned for the bid.

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Among the regulations requested by FIFA was that all ticket holders and officials be granted free visas into the country. Home Secretary Theresa May, in a letter dated Sept. 23, 2010, agreed. She said the U.K. government would bear 5 million pounds’ worth of the related costs, and the rest would be met by the English Football Association.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-22/u-k-proposed-special-laws-to-meet-fifa-demands-on-2018-world-cup-bid.html

Presumably the costs would've been to tax payers whereas the revenue would've gone elsewhere.