With the World Cup in full swing, I wanted to talk about it as I am a massive soccer fan. Specifically I wanted to focus on the economic effect that the world cup has on the country that hosts. When Brazil hosted in 2014, they invested $11.6 billion dollars into the building of stadiums and infrastructure. They defended this massive spending by invoking the magic of the world cup. They claimed the incredible popularity of the tournament combined with TV deals and advertisement would make the money back. Critics slammed the government for not using the $11.6 billion on social services and hospitals that the Brazilians desperately needed. 8 years on and Brazil has not made back the money. Not only that, the beautiful stadiums that they built for the tournament, stadiums that were meant to help soccer become a massive source of money for years to come have been turned into things like bus depots. Brazil is one example. Some countries have benefited greatly. Russia invested $12 billion, building airports, highways and stadiums. They were able to add tons of helpful infrastructure and also report a net profit. Now the numbers that come out of Russia could be a little biased as their government is reporting these numbers, but if they are true, they could be considered a success story. Countries that host the world cup can definitely use it to build up the countries infrastructure and broadcast themselves to the world, but if this massive project goes wrong, it can affect that country and their economic situation for years after the tournament ends.