FIFA president Sepp Blatter was on the attack today, addressing the bribery claims levied against his organization on the eve of the World Cup. In addition to his “racist” accusations, during an address to FIFA Congress (which, at this point, sounds like a close cousin to the Imperial Senate), Blatter boasted about the popularity of the world’s most popular sporting event, which he claims will be viewed by approximately 400 billion people.
Blatter tells FIFA Congress in Brazil: “More than 400 billion fans will watch the games through the televisions around the world”
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) June 10, 2014
Now, we’re not sure how Blatter got to that insane number, so we’ll chalk this up to either absurd hyperbole (Earth’s current population is pegged at roughly 7.2 billion), or the McDonald’s method of claiming “99 billion served”. In other words, if every person alive — men, women, children, newborns, people on death beds, people who have day jobs, people who don’t like soccer, etc. — watched all 64 World Cup matches, that would total 460 billion viewers. Either way, it’s a pretty ridiculous number to toss out there. But, hey, it’s Sepp — would you expect anything different?
[Deadspin]
