Looks Like a Disastrous Start to World Cup

People are starting to show up for the World Cup in Qatar, and it's already looking pretty grim.  First of all, the fan accommodations don't seem great. For $200 per night you get to stay in a shipping container. There were also tent villages that looked incredibly bare-bones in a video that went viral this week. 

 Pretty much everyone online made the same connection to Fyre Fest, the doomed music festival that made national headlines in 2017.  And, to be fair, the jokes do seem to have some validity to them. The pop-up villages, one of which is located by the main airport, were created because Qatar's hotels couldn't handle the number of fans, athletes, and other World Cup travelers. 

If you want alcohol — which, let's be real, this is the World Cup and lots of people do — then you'll probably have to do a bit of searching. And you'll have to pay up. Public alcohol consumption is banned in Qatar, with exceptions made for the World Cup. But it is super expensive and difficult to find because the government wanted it hidden away. In fact, just a few days before the tournament was set to start, high ranking Qatari officials reportedly demanded beer tents from major sponsor Budweiser be moved out of sight. If you do find a beer, it'll reportedly run you $14.

And last, but certainly not least, things have already grown contentious between Qatar and the foreign press. During a live news hit for TV2, Danish reporter Rasmus Tantholdt was interrupted by officials who attempted to stop the filming by blocking the camera lens and then threatening to smash the camera, despite Tantholdt showing his credentials as a member of the media.

“You invited the whole world to come here. Why can’t we film? It’s a public place,” Tantholdt told the security personnel. “You can break the camera. You want to break it? You are threatening us by smashing the camera?”  After video of the altercation went viral, Qatari officials confirmed that security had erred.