There is a good chance that football will return to its socialist roots, especially after the financial crisis. All the foreign investors, corporations, sponsors, etc are having to respond to the economic conditions that are still prevalent, and their lessened involvement in the game can only be good for the game itself and the working class fans. Of course this isn't going to happen overnight, and it will take a long time potentially, but I do think we are seeing a new way of thinking, away from free market fundamentalism and free market financial capitalism, towards a more participatory democratic system with a democratic socialist economic system that serves the interests of the many and not the few.
Unfortunately, if it is true that the benefits that locals are getting is at the expense of travelling fans, it is a bit of a disappointment, because the world cup is meant to be world event and is a great opportunity for fans of different countries to mingle and experience different cultures. So it is a shame if others have to lose out for someone to benefit. This is a further indictment of the current socioeconomic/political system most of the world is following. The system is such that for one group to benefit, another normally has to suffer some loss. This is the way the financial and corporate elite who rule the world maintain the status quo by engendering a divide and rule policy. Ensure the proletariat and the lumpen and petit bourgeois fight amongst themselves, while they benefit from the conflict and keep control of the institutions that control social, economic and political decisions made all over the world.
