Written by By Eileen Sullivan, CNN
Before world football’s summer World Cup, the beautiful game had gone seven years without a global knockout tournament. This year, Japan and South Korea hope to banish those 14 long months of international heat and uncertainty — a crucial point of difference to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Since the Super Bowl, FIFA’s total turnover has risen by 40% and one of the incentives to participating in the competition is the chance to showcase a national sporting showcase. Japan and South Korea want to be the first to play in a global knockout tournament.
There are a few advantages that come with the World Cup: it features the world’s best teams, it’s the most-watched sports program on TV in many countries, and it holds everything together for tournament host country Russia, with its own carnival atmosphere and extra fanatic of soccer. But having to start preparing four years in advance — and to play two playoff matches in as many weeks — is just painful to watch.
Every year on the date of the playoff round, CNN and sister network HLN.com will present a fortnight-long special edition of CNN’s travel program Lockout: What Is It? How Does It Work? What’s Next? The CNN/HLN show examines the deals and policies around travel in global extreme weather events. Each episode takes us into unfamiliar landscapes in colorful new ways and explores the reactions of local communities.
In Lockout, CNN and HLN reveal the most perplexing accommodation and travel questions from our sister channels: CNN International will take viewers inside Carlsbad Caverns, South Africa to find a historic hotel that’s been open for more than 100 years, and Travel Channel travelers will tackle the — how to say this on television — tricky matter of bedbugs. HLN will explore where people leave their earthly remains — especially when there’s a natural disaster in town.
Click here to watch Lockout: What Is It? How Does It Work?