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[QUOTE=The DoJ’s Website]
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Shit, maybe they are after me next.
Huh. OK, I guess she can take credit for it after all.
This is fantastic, I hope they get Sepp the Blatter too, he is like a cancer on the sport.
Is this being done in the US because we are the one country on the planet that couldn’t give a crap about football? Better chance of getting an unbiased jury, unbribed witnesses and all that?
I guess presiding from prison would be possible, especially if the senior officials he’s presiding over are in there with him. 
The country where football has one of the highest participation levels of all sports?
If not caring much about football was the criteria then surely India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia or Australia would be better choices?
Coventry City fans are next on the list.
Link works fine for me.
I guess it’s more that the US has a) the resources, b) the international reach, c) the international clout and d) the enabling legislation (eg I’m not sure the UK has anything of quite the scope of RICO). You’d be able to get un-hobbled juries in most countries though.
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, the US has a very high level of playing soccer (especially among children), but a very low level of watching it professionally. I don’t think that FIFA has its tendrils insinuated deeply into US youth soccer.
The US is one of the largest media markets for soccer, despite the perception among some that nobody here cares about it. 27 million people watched the 2014 World Cup finals in the US. Granted, that’s like, 1/4 of a Superbowl, but it’s still a pretty big deal.
Woohoo, this is indeed a happy day. It’s a shame they haven’t swept up Blatter as well but one can only hope.
It’s not just domestic viewing figures, US corporations are major sponsors. It’s easy marketing that reaches all sorts of odd corners of the globe.
I wonder if Michael Garcia got involved in this investigation. His predecessor as Federal Prosecutor for Southern New York is now the head of the FBI, and Loretta Lynch was the federal prosecutor in Brooklyn when Garcia was in Manhattan.
According to some articles I read, Garcia was extensively interviewed by the DOJ over the past couple years. Not surprising, given that he resigned when FIFA elected to suppress his report.
We’re happy to do our part, as long as we don’t have to watch the damned game.
The news quoted one FIFA guy who expressed the hope that this incident will not cast a shadow over the other things FIFA does. Even I, a mere Yank, know enough about the sleaziness of FIFA to wonder if the additional shadowing will even be noticed. Required John Oliver rant:
The reasons are fairly clear to me. Attending a sporting event is at least as much about the atmosphere as it is about the actual contest itself. That intense, passionate atmosphere in overseas football hasn’t come to the USA, at least not yet. So it’s actual soccer fans at US matches, rather than people looking to be part of a loud, boozy and aggressive group of like minded people. Here that role is filled by football (college even more so than NFL) and, in some places, the NHL.
Oh, no the Right has already questioned why the black attorney general of the black Democrat President is wasting taxpayer dollars with soccer. Headline to a link to an article (which doesn’t even say anything of the sort) on the Drudge Report:
LYNCH PRIORITIES: WORLD SOCCER?
No, idiot. Lynch priorities: money laundering, wire fraud, bribery and worse taking place on American soil, and using American institutions. I don’t care if its Irish Hurling, a racket is a racket.