Russia and Qatar may have prepared great bids, and this is indicative of a high level of commitment which FIFA is obviously looking for.
That being said the bid "process" for the '18 and '22 World Cups were a fucking farce. The World Cup needs to be about two things.
1) The sport
2) The fans
3) Money
The World Cup needs to be hosted in an environment where the teams can play in safety, where the game is reasonably popular, and ideally where it will help to make the game more popular. The weather in Russia shouldn't be a problem in June/July. However, much of Russian/the Russian population is notoriously racist and it's not nearly as safe as most of the other bidding countries.
Qatar is a rich country and I'm not sure what they're like in regards to crime, etc. But the heat there is fucking ridiculous and they can make all the noises they want about air-conditioning it's going to be a BOILING in those stadiums (stadia?). I'm also unsure how open-minded the country is and who knows how the natives will react to black, Jewish, etc players and fans.
I don't have the statistics at hand but I believe the United States made up the largest % of people traveling to the 2010 World Cup. Many people from the US and elsewhere will have deep reservations about traveling to Russia due to preconceived notions about the country along with very real concerns as well.
As for Qatar, who wants to go to the Middle East? That's going to be a turnoff for a LOT of people. Who knows what kind of issues there are going to be. People were hesitant about going to South Africa. As a destination it's nicer than Russia but not as safe and on a continent that, as a general rule, isn't looked at very favorably. Just the words "Middle East" are going to turn people away, whether or not it deserves to.
When I say money I mean money for the host country. Not money that FIFA gets to jam into their already overstuffed pockets. For 2018 the difference isn't as big but having the World Cup in Spain/Portugal or England would've netted more money because there would have been more travelers to the area, both those with tickets and those without. The 2022 World Cup in the US especially would have made a bundle for the same reason.
FIFA obviously has its own agenda because neither of these two choices favor the game, the teams, or the fans. As a fan of the game I'm disappointed because I want the World Cup to be as successful as possible, and this simply won't happen in Russia and Qatar. I think the countries that should have won the bids were perhaps a little too lax in their preparation, or in some cases rocked by scandals, or not looked upon favorably by FIFA.
Either way, these two decisions have further stained FIFA's reputation and someone, somehow needs to clean house and cleanse FIFA of the corruption and all the self-serving, back-slapping bastards that are currently running the show.
)...but to connect a bid to host a sporting event to global political/economic/social influence is a bit silly. The US essentially IGNORES football, except for a slight blip on the radar every 4 years, and is still the cultural center of the universe. That's not changing any time soon. And most assuredly will not change because Qatar and Russia host an event. Besides, your whole argument is based on the idea that the bidding process was fair and that the US was on a level playing field....that was NEVER the case.
