The Sun-Herald

International Consultants & Your World Cup Money

Members of Australia's "bid team", some of the people working to bring the FIFA World Cup to Australian shores in 2018 or 2022, fly to Switzerland this weekend.

You can check the cast of characters here.

The trip is not for any formal lobbying - although there may be a few diplomatic cocktails at FIFA President Sepp Blatter's favourite hotel bar in Zurich.

This junket is a compulsory "workshop" held for delegations from all bidding nations.

On the agenda: FIFA will brief candidates on "legal requirements, media and communications, marketing and television, host city requirements, and corporate social responsibility".

But the event is a simple coffee break as Football Federation Australia spends the $45 million of funding it received from the Australian government for it's bid.

Some of that public money (ie, it's yours) is already on its way out of Australia, now allocated to international "consultants", attempting to advise FFA Chairman Frank Lowy on how to counter the ever-more impressive bid building from the United States.

When it comes to the US bid, Australia is struggling to compete.

Last week, the US Bid Committee announced a shortlist of 27 cities that will be further considered to host World Cup matches.

These include Dallas (a stadium with 100,000 capacity), Detroit (108,000 capacity), Los Angeles (92,000) and Phoenix (71,000).

Some of those cities even have two stadiums capable of hosting matches.

Earlier this month, it was announced Phillip Anschutz, American soccer's sugar daddy, had joined Arnold Schwarzenegger and Henry Kissinger the US bid committee.

Anschutz is one of the biggest players in the world of entertainment.

He's the grandfather of Major League Soccer having owned seven teams over its 13-year history.

He was the guy who brought David Beckham to America and his company, AEG, owns stadiums and venues all over the world.

While the Australian city of Adelaide still needs convincing to build a stadium suitable to host a World Cup match, Anschutz has a couple in his backyard he could probably lend South Australians.

Meanwhile, President Obama continues to get in on the game.

Last week, he wrote to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, thanking the governing body boss for dropping by The White House last month, as you do.

"I very much enjoyed our conversation about football, sport and the importance of education," Obama chirped. "I must congratulate your on your determination to break down social barriers, promote tolerance and encourage harmony between people around the world by spreading a message of hope by means of football."

Of course, in the world of backroom deals and FIFA Executive Committee politics, none of these frilly stadium lists and letters from Presidents may matter when it comes to vote crunch time.

That, at least, is what Lowy is hoping his expensive team of newly-appointed international consultants is about to tell him.

Advice is free, you see.

Especially when it's government-funded and someone else is paying for it.