WATCH: Why hosting World Cup has 'no financial benefit'

There is "no financial benefit" to hosting the World Cup, sports journalist Simon Kuper says. "World Cups don't boost the economy," he told PBS News' Geoff Bennett. "That's a very clear and consistent finding by academic sports economists over the decades ... So they don't increase GDP. They don't increase the number of jobs. They don't increase tourism to your cities." "Then you're left with the costs because FIFA's model is, it takes all the money from the World Cup," he added. "The host city can't even charge sales tax on ticket sales, and the hosts have to pay the costs." Kuper, author of “World Cup Fever: A Soccer Journey in Nine Tournaments," joined Bennett for the latest episode of PBS News' Settle In podcast. They discussed the World Cup, the politics of FIFA and where soccer goes from here. For the full episode, click the link in our bio. Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show. Sign up for Here's The Deal with Lisa Desjardins: https://to.pbs.org/41q6E8i Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6 Follow us: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews X: http://www.twitter.com/newshour Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newshour/