When Brandon wanted to talk about Qatar

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DurOK, not every article at The Solid Signal Blog is going to be “on topic.” In fact, I try to make sure 5-7% of the content we have here is just sort of “stuff” you might find interesting. Very few of us think about communications technology all the time, and I think it’s good to have a mix of other things to talk about.

That’s why back in 2014, when one of our team members wanted to write about the tiny nation of Qatar, I said “bring it on.” You can read what he wrote, here.

Lusail Iconic Stadium

Brandon told us that Qatar would be hosting the World Cup in 2022 and had quite an ambitious set of stadiums planned. He pointed to Lusail Iconic Stadium, which will look like this when it’s finished:

In general this seems to fit in with the decade-long worldwide trend of making stadiums look like science-fiction donuts. OK, say I, whatever. I don’t have to live near it.

The stadium’s web page, which was updated recently, seems to take an almost deliberate stance on whether or not it’s even necessary. Of course, the 80,000 seat venue makes sense for the couple of weeks of the World Cup. However, the decay of stadiums all across the world, especially in Rio de Janiero, has made this sort of public construction project easy to pick on.

The page goes to lengths to point out how the stadium will be repurposed after the World Cup. They specifically talk about the removal of seats to make it … uh, cozier? Well as I said I don’t have to live near it.

Doesn’t look like a donut yet

Construction seems to be going along swimmingly according to this video from just a few months ago.

I do enjoy the World Cup. When it comes around, and I expect I’ll be watching when it does happen. However, I’ll be doing so from my comfortable couch instead of the USS Donutprise. I’ll be enjoying it in 4K (who knows, maybe we’ll have 8K by then) on DIRECTV. That’s the best way to watch sports of all kinds today, and I doubt that will change by 2022.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.