Party at the Hallenstadion!

Day -840. WorldCup2018

This is going to be one incredible weekend at the Hallenstadion, the multi-purpose arena in Zurich. On Friday, football officials will pack the venue for Fifa's Extraordinary Congress culminating in the election of a new president. It could be a long day, but even though the vote itself is a slow process and it may require a second round it will not be able to go into sudden death overtime, play until there's a winner, like National Hockey League hockey in North America. If it's not over by midnight the building maintenance crew will be kicking them out as they have to lay an ice hockey surface for the ZSC Lions home match the next day.

It might be a good idea to look out for a number of suits in the crowd on Saturday. Some of the Fifa officials from the non-winter sports countries (most of them?) might have snagged some tickets for a bit of enjoyment of the local culture. However, they may stand out a little bit in this crowd. Or maybe not. It's more football than NHL hockey crowd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9sV7z-M_Q0&list=PL60CFjRsDwVvcemOcnUu-spMtZOSKopfw&index=12

If the politicians (and you know I mean football officials) want to stick around for the full weekend to let off some steam after a full Friday listening to talk of reform and the such, they could get on to Ticketmaster, or the local Fifa fixer, and get themselves some tickets for Ellie Goulding, performing at the Hallenstadion on Sunday. And if they really want to celebrate not being arrested on behalf of the U.S. Attorney General in their hotel room at dawn on Friday (there are rumours that this shouldn't come as a surprise), they could stay in Zurich for to mark the the leap year day by dancing along to the German techno/trance band Scooter. This is part of their "Can't Stop the Hardcore" tour which in ways that I can't fully put my finger on seems appropriate for the Fifa crowd. No matter what happens in Friday's election, the hard core at Fifa, despite all the promises, will probably not be shaken to the foundations of it's marble walled, deep underground, basement bunker.