Slate Daily Feed Hang Up and Listen - FIFA's Trumpy World Cup Draw
Dec 8, 2025
Adam Crafton, a soccer reporter for The Athletic, shares insights from FIFA's extravagant World Cup draw influenced by a longstanding connection with Donald Trump. He discusses concerns over logistics and the U.S. team’s group expectations. Jordan Bianchi, a motorsports reporter, delves into the ongoing NASCAR antitrust trial involving Michael Jordan, explaining the financial stakes and competitive landscape challenges. He highlights significant courtroom moments that could reshape NASCAR's future and reveals the intricacies of the case against the sport's governance.
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Auto-Bids Create Strange Entrants
- Automatic bids produced surprising entrants (Tulane, James Madison) because conference winners can have poor overall records.
- Kirshner notes this preserves meaningful conference races even if resulting teams struggle in the playoff.
Subjectivity Undermines Trust
- Notre Dame's exclusion exposed inconsistency and subjectivity in committee decision-making.
- Ben Lindbergh criticized last-minute weight given to an earlier head-to-head result that hadn't influenced prior rankings.
Don’t Dismantle Championships Without Pay
- Consider aligning financial incentives before changing competitive stakes like conference championships.
- Alex Kirshner suggests conferences won't drop championship value unless paid sufficiently by networks.