However, the subject of this post is the article, and the author did not give any specific examples of where any forecasts from FIFA or otherwise are dubious. The author did give a link to a study that touted the wonderful benefits of hosting the World Cup. He certainly could have pulled a few questionable snippets out of that and highlighted them.
As an example from many years ago which I discussed on the CHB, I remember reading an article that discussed a study which had touted the economic benefits of a new football stadium for Baltimore. As one point, the study had talked about how many fans attending football games would be staying in hotels and how all of that spending would boost the economy. The article pointed out that most of the Baltimore fan base lived within a twenty-five mile radius of the city and would not be spending money on hotels.
And, as another example of a publication having an agenda, I discussed earlier about how the New York Post had an agenda against the new football stadium in Buffalo. With that stadium there are legitimate points to argue against it, but the Post took it further by misrepresenting several statements and making absurd statements such as how Buffalo could have used the St Louis strategy to get a big payday out of the NFL instead of spending money on the stadium.