The World Cup isn’t over, but Qatar already has its sights set on the only comparable global sports tournament.

The Middle Eastern nation is making a bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics on the premise that it believes this year’s World Cup shows the country’s ability to host an event of that scale.

• In preparation for the World Cup, awarded by FIFA in 2010, Qatar built seven new stadiums and refurbished one more.
• The country spent at least $229 billion on the stadiums, a new subway system, and other infrastructure in preparation for the World Cup.
• Qatar hosted the Asian Games, an Olympics-like competition, in 2006 and will do so again in 2030.

Qatar’s hosting has raised numerous issues, chief among them the treatment of migrant workers, who provided the main construction force for the stadiums.

The Guardian reported that at least 6,500 migrant workers died since the country was awarded the World Cup, and, per the ESPN documentary “Qatar’s World Cup,” the government has avoided compensating their families by attributing the deaths to natural causes.

Qatar recently raised its estimate of migrant worker deaths from 40 to 400-500.

Qatar has also drawn attention for its struggle to accommodate over one million World Cup tourists, and its treatment of LGBTQ people and journalists.

Crowded Field

The country will have competition for the Summer Games, which will take place in Paris in 2024, Los Angeles in 2028, and Brisbane in 2032.

India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Germany have all shown interest in bidding for the Olympics.

An American investor has been given a deadline to purchase a storied French soccer team. 

Olympique Lyonnais has given former FuboTV executive John Textor until Wednesday to reach a final agreement to buy a 66% stake in the Ligue 1 club in a deal that could fetch up to $798.9 million. 

• An agreement with Lyon is required to be unconditional and financed.
• The deal would be through Eagle Football Holdings — Textor’s investment vehicle.
• Textor is the co-owner of the Premier League’s Crystal Palace FC.
• He also is the majority owner of Brazilian club Botafogo and Belgium’s RWD Molenbeek. 

A final deadline is the byproduct of an arduous sales process between Textor and Lyon.

Textor and Lyon were expected to complete a deal in September but hit a delay. The agreement was postponed again in October as the two parties failed to come to terms despite “substantial progress.” 

A sale by current Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas may hit another fork in the road as Crystal Palace investors have opposed the deal, which requires their approval. 

Hot Commodity 

Lyon adds to several potential changes in club ownership throughout European soccer. 

Fenway Sports Group may explore a partial sale in Liverpool FC as it has yet to receive a “compelling offer.” Liverpool is the fourth-most-valuable soccer team at $4.45 billion, per Forbes.

Manchester United may also be available as its owner the Glazer family — who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — are reportedly looking for more than $7.2 billion for the club.

The Pac-12 Conference will not be getting a new media rights deal anytime soon. 

Commissioner George Kliavkoff said the Power 5 conference won’t secure a new rights pact before the end of 2022 as it is in “no rush” to complete a deal after starting negotiations in July.

The lack of urgency to land a new media rights deal comes as the Pac-12 handles a shakeup of its membership before its current deals with FOX and ESPN expire in 2024. 

In June, USC and UCLA agreed to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten — a loss of two key members of a conference that has struggled to sustain success in revenue-generating football.

A decision on UCLA’s fate will be decided on Dec. 14

• The Pac-12 has ranked last in annual revenue distribution among Power 5 conferences.
• Its deals with FOX and ESPN have an average annual value of $250 million. 
• Average viewership of Pac-12 games on FOX, ABC, and ESPN is up 18% year-over-year.

The Pac-12 is pursuing a new media rights deal with Amazon, sources tell Front Office Sports. A deal would add to Amazon’s growing sports portfolio, which includes the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.”

Prime Addition

Pac-12 member Colorado is expected to garner more attention for the conference with the hiring of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders as its head football coach.

Sanders has signed a five-year, $29.5 million deal with the Buffaloes. The deal is $2 million more per year than Colorado has ever paid for a coach.

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen and top platform Chess.com have launched their defense against Hans Niemann.

Attorneys for both Carlsen and Chess.com filed to dismiss Niemann’s $100 million lawsuit against the two of them and grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.

• Axinn, the law firm representing Carlsen, wrote that Niemann is “claiming a wholly implausible conspiracy to defame and boycott Niemann that somehow damaged his already dubious reputation to the tune of $100 million.”
• While Niemann filed his lawsuit in Missouri, attorneys for both Carlsen and Chess.com sought to have the case dismissed under Connecticut law, because Niemann resides there, and Missouri law defers to the plaintiff’s home state in such cases.

Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis following an upset loss to Niemann. The world champion later accused Niemann of cheating in that game and others.

Niemann has admitted to isolated incidents of cheating online, but maintains he has never cheated in an in-person game.

Win, Lose, or Draw

Niemann’s lawsuit claims that Carlsen and Chess.com colluded to end the 19-year-old’s playing career, noting that the company acquired Carlsen’s Play Magnus venture for $82.9 million in August. 

Nick Soltman, partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP, told Front Office Sports in November that the defendants have little to fear.

“The only real significant risk in my mind is that you’re gonna have to spend time and money defending this,” said Soltman, adding he could only see Niemann realistically claiming “maybe six figures” in damages.