John Leicester wrote about how Qatar manages to keep its stadiums full:

• Qatar has a population of 1.8 million. Of those only about 300,000 are Qatari citizens. The rest are temporary workers.
• Volleyball, handball, and football matches are played in front of full stadiums as workers are offered $8 to pretend to be a fan.
• Given the amount of time a match takes this comes out to less than $1 an hour.
• Some even dress up in white robes and headscarves to look like proper Qatari citizens.
• While the crowds look good for television, they’re actually keeping real fans from going to the stadium. Two thirds of a survey’s respondents said that paid fans are the reason why real fans don’t go to matches.

Read more about the practice here.

Source: AP

Via: Marginal Revolution, Slate