I have nothing against people enjoying sports, or Russian cities trying to raise their profile — but the governing bodies of international sports orgs like IOC (Olympics) and FIFA (World Cup) are so disturbingly corrupt and mafia-like so as to distract from the actual events.
And will Putin pull another Crimea just like he did following Sochi? He seems to time some of his biggest antics around large sporting spectacles.
Yup.
Pro sports have fallen on hard times. Look at the low ratings for the NFL.
I doubt it - for one thing Russia is hard hit already by sannctions and I don’t think it has the room to pull off another surprise.