If you were holding out hope for Fox Sports to take a measured approach to a World Cup in Qatar, that optimism was quickly dashed during the coverage of Sunday’s World Cup opener.
From the moment Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup in 2010 — a successful bid that ended up being bought and paid for — it was clear that we were going to be looking at the most corrupt World Cup from an organization that’s no stranger to corruption. After all, a nation the size of Connecticut with no soccer history was faced with hosting soccer’s flagship event. And the 12-year build-up put Qatar’s terrible record on human rights on display for the world to see.
That created a difficult balancing act for every sponsor and rights holder associated with the World Cup. On one hand, they’re paying millions (or billions) of dollars to show the games, and people are still going to tune in. But at the same time, there was a way to contextualize the World Cup with a host nation that has covered up thousands of migrant worker deaths, persecutes the LGBTQ+ community and has discriminatory laws towards women. England rights holder BBC, for example, took that measured approach.
Gary Lineker starting the world cup showing with that speech damn pic.twitter.com/2KHKfzvgtD
— lozzles 🦕 SAW ENGLAND MAKE HISTORY 🏴 (@binweevillie) November 20, 2022
Fox, on the other hand, opted to straight up sportswash with coverage that often sounded like an infomercial for Qatar.
"It's 64 Super Bowls in 29 days… This is a once in a lifetime opportunity where people will come and celebrate football." @JennyTaft speaks with Secretary General of the Supreme Committee Hassan Al-Thawadi before the opening match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup pic.twitter.com/LHrtqcTGJQ
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 20, 2022
Our crew is excited to be in Qatar for the #FIFAWorldCup @RobStoneONFOX | @EniAlu | @clint_dempsey | @AlexiLalas pic.twitter.com/GXcRPJodJP
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 20, 2022
Now, if Fox’s coverage sounded like it was paid for by the Qatari government, that’s because it was. According to the Washington Post, Fox Sports was initially planning to keep some of its announcers back in the U.S. for remote broadcasts until Qatar paid for their flights on Qatar Airways.
Fox Sports is also lavishing praise on Qatar for much the same reason. From @benjstrauss https://t.co/mG6gP9npwn https://t.co/D4LL0BwvjA pic.twitter.com/Lp9pdNqPhS
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) November 20, 2022
And the result has been predictable with Fox going out of its way to paint the picture of a welcoming nation hosting a historic World Cup. The shamelessness can only be topped by the state-sponsored Qatar Airways logo being included on Fox Sports’ scorebug.
Let’s recap day one of Fox’s World Cup coverage:
– Presenting sponsorship by Qatar Airways
– Puff piece before the opening game
– No references to any geopolitical and human rights issues
– And then you compare it to what Telemundo, the BBC and even beIN Sports are doing… pic.twitter.com/zgqK4Jjp7p— Bob Williams (@WilliamsBob75) November 20, 2022
No wonder viewers were disappointed with Fox Sports’ approach. It was embarrassing.
This was how Twitter reacted
For those saying it's not Fox's place to lay out the concerns surrounding Qatar hosting the World Cup, here is how Telemundo introduced the coverage just before kickoff this morning. If NBC can do it, Fox can. Fox is just choosing not to.
(I translated best I could.) pic.twitter.com/OCwF0P0wHg
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 20, 2022
(Bribes. They paid bribes. Fox Sports is lavishing praise on these people but in the end the World Cup is in Qatar because of bribes.) pic.twitter.com/HNhkcXuFH1
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 20, 2022
Big contrast between the Qatar regime-aligned coverage in the United States on Fox Sports and the coverage on the UK rights-holder. https://t.co/hk9Kla6utE
— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) November 20, 2022
Look Fox and every other broadcaster, you’re not going to sell us on Qatar. You can chill out on the propaganda. Just call the games.
— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) November 20, 2022
You think it's bad that Qatar got to host the World Cup, in America we let FOX Sports do the coverage
— TAPE 🎄 (@tapemachines) November 20, 2022
Really funny for the FOX Sports announcers to be talking about how great and unifying for the world it is that Ecuadorian and Qatari fans are interacting since it wouldn’t happen in any other context.
Brother, it shouldn’t be happening in this context! Qatar bought this spot!
— Subscribe to Badgers Ball Knower (@drewhamm5) November 20, 2022
FOX Sports brown nosing Qatar is already making this feel like an infomercial for Qatar. Here's how BBC are covering the games. pic.twitter.com/SYXrAtHtfx
— World Soccer Talk (@worldsoccertalk) November 20, 2022
Notice how Fox pundits shilling for Qatar is eerily reminiscent of what they do with our national team. Zero shame. They know who pays them. This is why you cannot trust the Lalas or Holdens.
— SuperiorUSMNT (@EinSchwarzwelt) November 20, 2022
lol Fox is literally a paid promotional account for Qatar at this point. https://t.co/R715NKQfwY
— Jared Tilley (@Jtilley02) November 20, 2022
This is the dude who came across very defensively and poorly in the Netflix FIFA doc. Sportswashing indeed. https://t.co/yboVAVLdHx
— Nick (@NKroegs) November 20, 2022
Fox commentators really making me cringe, so clearly being fed money to praise Qatar
— Morgan Tencza (@morgantencza) November 20, 2022
I shouldn't be surprised that Fox Sports would be gutless in its World Cup coverage, but I kind of am. https://t.co/uv5oz35ZuM
— Matt Reinstetle (@stetle) November 20, 2022
