Josh Tolentino: FIFA's World Cup passed on Baltimore. Consider that a blessing.

BALTIMORE - The World Cup has reached the most electric part of the tournament when the sport's universe seems to orbit around its host cities.

The group stage concluded this past weekend, and the elimination rounds have kicked off. Every match now carries consequences, heartbreak and the possibility of an unforgettable moment that becomes part of a country's soccer history.

The men's World Cup is making its way through North America, stopping in 16 host cities, including 11 in the United States. Baltimore is not among them.

Baltimore learned back in 2022 that it would not be among the 16 host cities for this year's World Cup, which is being held across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. At the time, Baltimore and Washington had submitted a combined bid, hoping M&T Bank Stadium, the city's infrastructure and proximity to the nation's capital would be enough to secure a global stage as the country nears its 250th birthday.

Sure, it would have been riveting to witness Charm City filled with traveling supporters. There was cultural appeal in imagining fans from across the globe spilling through neighborhood bars in Federal Hill, Canton, Fells Point and all across Baltimore, wearing flags as capes and singing their countries' fight songs. For local soccer fans, watching the world's best players take the pitch in Baltimore would have felt significantly different than watching on television, while other cities have enjoyed hosting the spectacle.

That part has been easy to appreciate from afar.

My friend Ryan McGeary, a Massachusetts native, has documented Boston's World Cup scene on social media, from international supporters packing city streets to his growing fascination with Scotland's Tartan Army. Host cities hope spectators capture those exact viral moments of the tournament.

That appeal is not lost on me, either. Soccer was the first sport I learned as a child, and one of my earliest introductions came through a local Ajax program, associated with the famed professional club in Amsterdam. There is an obvious romance to the World Cup, especially when flags, songs and strangers from around the world pour into one city.

Yet, the closer the World Cup inches toward its July 19 final, the sloppy mess Baltimore avoided comes into clearer view.

From the outset, the original sales pitch meetings between FIFA and host cities are vehemently insulting. The Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast recently reported that amid the negotiation stage, one FIFA executive told Los Angeles officials that "hosting this tournament will put your city on the map."

Good grief. Let's make it all about FIFA, huh?

It may look like one grand celebration. Hosting the World Cup, though, comes with FIFA's terms attached. Host cities are asked to provide resources, absorb costs and surrender control before they can even begin counting what they might get back.

The host city supplies the venue, workers, roads, police presence and just about anything else you can imagine that goes into planning a global event.

Baltimore undoubtedly could have handled the World Cup. A few matches at M&T Bank Stadium would have brought massive attention to the city, which has regularly hosted Ravens and Orioles games, concerts, festivals and other major sports and events.

Would hosting the World Cup, though, justify all the widely known headaches?

Hosting cities in recent weeks have navigated extra security costs, transportation stress, public resources and logistical burdens.

FIFA's grip on the stadiums themselves has been almost comically heavy-handed.

Stadium names and local word marks have been stripped away or covered because FIFA controls the commercial environment around its tournament. At the New England Patriots' home field, Gillette Stadium, even the 60,000-plus seats bearing the stadium's name have been covered with blue duct tape.

Seriously.

Baltimore can at least enjoy the world's most viewed sporting event without inheriting the chaos. Some might view the non-selection as a snub. Try considering it a blessing in disguise.

Several host cities have leaned on taxpayer support, including federal transit money in the U.S. and significant public spending in Canada. FIFA's control has carried all the subtlety of a hostile takeover. When it comes to all the money being poured into the World Cup from spectators, FIFA regularly collects that revenue, too, easily in the billions from ticket sales and media deals.

Don't consider any of this a surprise given FIFA's track record.

In 2015, U.S. authorities unsealed a sweeping corruption case that charged FIFA officials and sports marketing executives with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering offenses tied to a long-running scheme involving bribes and kickbacks for media and marketing rights. The FBI said more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks had been paid or agreed to be paid.

Oh, what could have been.

Being left off the host-city list might've initially stung because it was intriguing to imagine Baltimore on the sport's biggest stage. But while Baltimore and Washington missed the World Cup matches and the global spotlight, the region also dodged FIFA's vise grip, the public strain and obligation to help stage a spectacle it would never truly control.

The World Cup passed on Baltimore. Given the terms, Baltimore can live with that snub.

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