The headlines focus on the potential or peril of a World Cup every two years. That’s the power of the World Cup: it overshadows pretty much everything else. Doubling the frequency of the biggest event in sports! The continental and cultural showdown between revenue and tradition! Those controversies inevitably will be front and center of the debate.
But a biennial World Cup actually isn’t the most fundamental change FIFA is proposing. The summers are going to get filled regardless, if not by an extra World Cup then by enlarged continental championships, Nations Leagues, club tournaments and exhibition tours, etc.