NAB Wants Stations To Provide Marketing Assist For U.S. World Cup Bids

The National Association of Broadcasters is teaming with the USA committee bidding for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup soccer championships.
NAB is encouraging broadcasters to muster their viewers to the cause of grabbing one of the FIFA tourneys, including providing them with TV, radio and Web ads encouraging them to get them to sign a petition supporting the U.S. as host country.
The petition will be delivered to FIFA in advance of the December date on which the host country decision will be announced, according to NAB.
"This is a great chance for local broadcasters to activate our tens of millions of viewers and listeners in bringing the World Cup to America," said executive vice president Dennis Wharton.
Perhaps the slogan for the games could be: "You Can't Spell Vuvuzela Without USA."
"I think you can safely assume there wil be no vuvuzelas in the PSAs," said Wharton of the plastic horns whose incessent droning was an underlying theme at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.