Is the World Cup a giant waste of money?

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FOOTBALL FANS can hardly accuse Qatar of being tight-fisted. The Arab state has reportedly spent $300bn in the 12 years since it won the rights to host the men’s World Cup. It only expects the tournament to inject $17bn back into its economy. Much of that spending spree has gone into building infrastructure, including a whizzy new metro system built to accommodate the 1.5m visitors expected to show up to football’s biggest party. Organisers insist all the construction will serve a purpose even after the final goals are scored. They should hope so. As an investment, sporting mega-events are almost always a dud (see chart).