This tournament alone has already generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the economy. Not to mention the outright positive social, mental and physical health ramifications of football inspiring a whole generation of kids to play sport.

less than zero return on investment

You could not be more wrong.

This is a football World Cup. This is as big as the Olympics the local media would have understood that if they weren’t so financially dependent on the other codes.

I agree, however I think it's important to note that the tournament's success is in spite of the vested interests of the local media in the other codes, and therefore lack of promotion, discussion and excitement generated amongst the population.