January 10,2007

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  MC Squashes Visa's FIFA Bid

  On 12/06/06, a federal judge upheld MasterCard's right to block Visa's attempt at sponsoring the FIFA World Cup soccer championship. The immensely popular global tournament takes place every fourth year, and, in 2006, drew some 30 billion television viewers. The event, which stands to be exceedingly lucrative for sponsors, has been sponsored by MasterCard for the last 16 years. When FIFA attempted to award Visa International an eight-year sponsorship, MasterCard cried foul, and took the issue to court. Per the order, FIFA must hand over the funds to MasterCard.

  
  The judicial shutdown of Visa's 2006 contract apparently infuriated FIFA bigwigs, who announced their plans to appeal. Visa had signed a deal to pay $180 million to be the exclusive World Cup sponsor until 2014. MasterCard balked because talks had apparently confirmed that they would retain sponsorship, and the opportunity would not be offered elsewhere. Loss of the FIFA sponsorship would have been crucially detrimental to MasterCard, who doesn't hold nearly as many of the high-dollar deals that Visa does, such as the Olympics. Additionally, both Visa and MasterCard are courting potential cardholders in Latin America, home of some of the biggest soccer legends and fans in the world.
  
  
  
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