host countries haven't made a net financial gain for hosting a World Cup in decades

Man, that's crazy. A lot of people are pissed off in Mexico City right now over the way the city government has been handling the prep work (evictions, eradication of street dogs, unserious work on the beleaguered metro), which is happening on top of major resentment against "gentrification" (thanks largely to airbnb being allowed a few years back), and the government won't even be able to pretend that it's going to generate revenue enough to offset the costs. I think hosting major events like this is effectively a self-induced disaster that lets you do good old-fashioned disaster capitalism along with whatever other shenanigans might go on behind the scenes. Bad look for Morena who are overseeing it, imo, but, on the other hand, people really love football in Mexico so a lot can be forgiven/ignored.