May 27, 2015 will remembered as one of the most sensational days in sport history but not for anything that happened on a field of play. The indictments by the US government's Department of Justice of nine FIFA officials and five corporate leaders on racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering charges has sent shock waves through the upper echelons of world soccer.
For the first time ever there is a very good chance that the cesspool of corruption that has been FIFA for the last four decades will be exposed in open court. The focus of the US investigation and charges relate to the operations of the two bodies responsible for leading soccer in the Americas - CONCACAF and CONMEBOL.
The primary focus on persons involved or related to the two federations of the Americas points to role played by Chuck Blazer, the former General Secretary of CONCACAF. Blazer was arguably one of the five most powerful men in world soccer for over two decades after aligning himself with former CONCACAF President Jack Warner and FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
The power alliance fell apart in 2011 when Blazer informed Sepp Blatter that Jack Warner had acted as a willing go-between FIFA Presidential candidate Mohammed bin Hammam, brown bags full of money and certain soccer leaders from the CONCACAF nations.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - JUNE 01: Chuck Blazer, FIFA member and Presedent of FIFA, Joseph S.Blatter during the 61st FIFA Congress at Hallenstadion on June 1, 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Warner conveniently resigned before any further investigation. Bin Hammam was banned from world soccer, then had his ban rescinded by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and then was banned again five months later.
But Blazer had also attracted the attention of US law enforcement and the IRS who were interested in his tax returns or perhaps more importantly the millions in unreported income.
That appears to have provided enough leverage to "turn" Blazer and many of charges appear to emanate from information that Blazer would have been party to.
In addition there is the parallel investigation that has been launched by Swiss authorities into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup Finals to Russia and Qatar.
The investigations now underway are extraordinary in world sport and speculation is rife as to what happens next particularly with the FIFA Presidential election scheduled for Friday.
There will certainly be a concerted effort by some nations to push for an election delay but one way or another, unless Sepp Blatter is charged, it is close to certain that he will win election for a 5th term whether it be on Friday or at a later date.
For fair-minded people it seems incomprehensible that the FIFA membership would provide Blatter with an extended mandate given what has happened on Wednesday. But fair-mindedness is not a quality readily associated with the majority of the 200+ FIFA member associations.
Self-interest rules the day and over the last 17 years as president and over 20 years as general-secretary Sepp Blatter has never forgotten that it is the tail that wags the FIFA dog when it comes to election votes.
Blatter inherited a measly surplus of $25M in 1998; that surplus is now $1.5B. Money paid out through Development Programs (the money that keeps the long tail countries content and subservient) has gone from $408M (2002 4-year cycle) to $880M for the cycle just completed in 2014.
The driver for the unprecedented influx of money enjoyed by FIFA over the last 17 years is the Men's World Cup through sponsorship deals and TV broadcast rights.
Up to now sponsors and broadcasters have stuck with FIFA but the involvement of law enforcement agencies on such a large scale is sure to make many of them - especially US-based multinationals - take a harder look at alignment with such a publicly-tainted organization.
The closest parallel we have is perhaps the fall out from the Salt Lake City scandal involving the buying of votes in order to secure right to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
Like FIFA, the IOC's governance had not contemplated a world in which companies and broadcasters would pay billions to be associated with the five rings and that cities would fight to be awarded the right to host using fair means or foul.
And like Blatter, Juan Antonio Samaranch's years of leadership of the IOC was marked by a cascade of money flowing into the coffers and with it corruption on a scale that just a few years before would have been unimaginable.
An investigation cleared Samaranch of any wrong doing but sponsors and reform-minded elements within world sport pressed home their advantage and Samaranch was forced into reforming the bid process before taking a long overdue retirement.
That initial reform laid the foundation for further modernization of the IOC governance model that now aligns with the ethical challenges of operating a world wide sports body and an organization entrusted with managing billions of dollars.
So what does Sepp Blatter do now? He has never shown any inclination to fall on his sword and his not going to start as he draws closer to his 80th year.
Blatter's modi operandi usually comes down to two tactics. The first is in the face of controversy batten down the hatches and wait for the media and fans to move on to a new and more interesting story - that normally happens in a matter of days.
The other is to impose a "Sepp-amnesty" that essentially places any previous wrong-doing off limits to any committee or investigator who might be tempted to look into the more unsavory practices of a Blatter confrère.
But the investigations by US and Swiss authorities is a game-changer. As the charges grind through the US justice system each appearance or announcement will breathe more life into the story.
Then there is the recently established "G-14" and the race to cooperate fully and to point the investigators in the direction of other wrong-doers. Blazer etc. have already established precedent and others will not be far behind.
The most probable approach is that Blatter will attempt to brazen it out and the media announcement from FIFA that it was a good day for FIFA seems to support that notion. But more will be needed to from soccer's boardroom Magus.
As implausible as it seems we should not discount the idea of Blatter attempting to reinvent himself as the great reformer and to reposition his legacy from the man that ran the most corrupt sport organization in the world to the man that cleaned it all up.
It may seem highly improbable but if there is anything we should have learned after four decades it is that Sepp Blatter always has some extra cards up his sleeve. Do not underestimate slippery Sepp.
