Running Head: World Cup Effects On Economy

World Cup Effects On Economy

Jacob M Ochoa

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302

Professor Bhusal
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World Cup Effects on Economy

World Cup Effects On Economy

The World Cup is a nationally televised soccer tournament that takes place every four

years with the last tournament taking place in 2014 and located in Brazil. The tournament

consists of thirty-two national country teams like Germany, The United States, Brazil, etc. and

they battle one another to find out with the best in the world is at the moment. With the next

World Cup right around the corner, the topic that I have chosen to talk about is, the economic

effects that the World Cup has on the countries participating and the country who is picked to

host the tournament. The two genres that I have chosen to use in this paper are a research article

titled “The Economic Effect Of The World Cup” which is written by a source of news called The

Conversation. The main argument of this article is to tell the audience some of the perceived

positives of being and hosting the tournament while also explaining a lot of the negatives of the

event. The other genre I decided to use is an infographic and it is titled “Infographic: the

Economic Effect of the World Cup” and the main argument of this is to show the audience the

numbers/revenue the event that generate for ones country. Overall, I believe hosting the World

Cup is a great honor and if done right, can have major revenue gains for ones country, however, I

believe countries should stay away from hosting the World Cup.

Audience and Purpose

Every piece of information has a message that it is trying to convey to their audience. In

my opinion, there are two intended audiences in both these genres and they are soccer fans and

people who live in countries that either want to host or have hosted the World Cup in the past

years. The first genre’s, “The Economic Effect Of The World Cup”, main purpose is to do two

things. First, the article talks about all the positives that the event brings to the countries. For

example, “For this years tournament in Brazil, various forecasters have identified the positive
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World Cup Effects on Economy

economic impact could range from US$3 billion to US$14 billion” and “Positive reports suggest

the tournament would add nearly US$30 billion to Brazil’s GDP between 2010 and 2014,

generating 3.63m jobs per year and raising an additional US$8 billion in tax revenues”. These

tell the audience the positives the tournament brings to the country and tries to make it seem like

there are no negative effects. Also, these quotes make people think/wish about how all that

money could help their country out a lot. However, the article also has another purpose, and that

is to explain to the reader that there are a lot of negatives that come with this tournament.

“Hosting the tournament is actually costing the country US$11.5 billion”, “Since last November,

an average of one construction worker a month has died while working on World Cup related

construction projects” and “It is clear many Brazilians think the tournament is simply not worth

it" are all prime examples that the article mentions of the major negative effects hosting the

tournament bring. For these reasons, while it has two purposes, the research articles main

purpose is to get the audience to see the negative effects of hosting the World Cup instead of

showcasing the positives.

The second genre is an infographic titled “Infographic: The Economic Effect of the

World Cup”. The main purpose of this genre is to show the audience the money aspect of the

World Cup and how much money/revenue the tournament generates for the people involved in

the tournament. The quotes “Meanwhile, soccer’s governing body, FIFA has made about $4.65

billion off the tournament, about 65 percent of which comes from TV rights” and “Whichever

nation wins the World Cup has, historically, seen a brief boost to their economy” show that the

event has a great effect on everyone who is involved in it. The infographic shows that on

average the victor nation’s economy outperforms the world economy by 3.5% in the month

following the World Cup which shows that winning the World Cup has significant value for all
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World Cup Effects on Economy

the countries involved. Also, the infographic shows that $2,500 is the average amount that was

expected to be spent by tourists all over the world which if you put that into the 3.7 million

people that were expected to visit the World Cup sites as well as the 1.6 million tickets

purchased before the tournament had even began and then by the 3.3 million spectators

anticipated for all 64 matches, that is a large amount of money to come in. The infographic also

tells the audience that a lot of money was put in to make this tournament possible by showing

that $3.5 billion was invested in building six new stadiums and refurbishing six others with the

most expensive being the Estadio Nacional in Brazil at a whooping $900 million. Overall, the

second genre does throw in little facts about how the tournament will negative effects but mainly

focuses on the positive aspects of the tournament.

Rhetorical Issues

Both genres use rhetorical devices to help support the claims they make.

Ethos

The research article uses ethos throughout to get the audience to realize that the

tournament is not as great of an opportunity as it may seem. “During the Federations Cup in

Brazil last summer, a world cup warm-up tournament, there were massive and frequent protests

across the country as people challenged anything from corruption to tax breaks given to FIFA to

increased bus fares” shows that even before the tournament people in Brazil saw that things were

going bad and didn’t want it anymore. Also, “Politian Romario has become a prominent critic,

arguing the tournament is “crippling” the country” shows that people in the Brazilian

government no longer wanted the tournament there because it was doing more harm than good.

The infographic does also use ethos throughout to help support its claim. The infographic’s
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World Cup Effects on Economy

data/numbers that it is based upon are given by WalletHub which is a finance website that gives

credit scores and other things based on money. This is a reliable website and all the other

numbers they provide are legitimate and credible which allows the audience to trust the data they

are reading.

Logos

The infographic uses logos more than the research article. The numbers/data that the

graphic uses are logos because they are easy to follow and understand which is good for the

readers who just want the information in front of them and easy to locate and understand. While,

one could say, there isn’t a whole lot of logos in the graph, it is the rhetorical appeal that is used

the most and most efficient. The research article also uses logos. It uses logos numerous ways,

but the most noticeable is when the article brings in how a Brazilian politician is saying how the

World Cup is negatively affecting the country. This is logos because people will tend to listen to

politicians more than random people regarding the economy and overall state of a country.

Pathos

Pathos is used to bring out emotional reactions from the intended audience. The research

article depends on its use of diction to get the audience on its side. Words such as “Civil

Unrest”, “Crime”, “Costs”, and “Negative Effect” are all used in a negative manner throughout

the article to show the audience that hosting the World Cup is a bad thing and there are a lot of

negatives that come along with it. The infographic also uses pathos in it. Just like ethos and

logos, the infographic relies heavily on the data they are presenting to get people thinking about

all the money the competition generates and possibly encourage them to chase after the

possibility of hosting the event. However, the data can also be seen in a negative way, as it
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World Cup Effects on Economy

shows how much the competition costs and how that may be something that turns countries away

from hosting.

Construction and Delivery

The research article is set up in a simple format in which the first half of the paper brings

up all the positive things the tournament brings and all the revenue it generates. Then, the next

half of the article talks about all the negatives that have come for the country hosting and how

hosting the tournament is not such a great thing. The infographic is set up very simple too as the

first half is all text about the data that is provided later. The second part is the actual data in

numerous different pages/slides and is explained and easy to follow. I believe the infographic

has a lot of good information and presents it very well and clearly, but the research article is a

better genre in regards of persuading its intended audience to listen and get on its side, as well as

a better genre for information. Because of that, the research article is a better genre overall.

Conclusion

Overall, both genres talk about the main topic well and make the reader/audience truly

think about effects that the World Cup has on one’s economy. The research article is a little

harder to understand in comparison to the infographic yet once you do understand it, the

information it provides is important and good. The infographic is very easier to understand and

follow because it bases everything on the numbers they have provided however, it doesn’t

provide as good of information as the article. Both genres showed the audience the effects that

the World Cup can have on one’s economy and country and showed how it might not be the

“great” opportunity that people make it out to be. The World Cup has numerous positive and

negative effects on the economies involved.

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World Cup Effects on Economy

Reference Page

Vaccaro, A. (2014, June 09). Infographic: The Economic Effect of the World Cup. Retrieved March 04,

2018, from https://www.boston.com/news/business/2014/06/09/infographic-the-economic-

effect-of-the-world-cup

The Economic Impact Of The World Cup. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from

http://www.economywatch.com/features/economic-impact-brazil-world-cup.16-06.html