The united North American trio bid is starting to take shape.
On Thursday, the United Bid Committee released the list of 41 cities across the United States, Mexico and Canada officially submitted bids to serve as Official Host Cities for the North American pending bid of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Of which, the United Bid Committee (UBC) will trim down to shortlist of cities later this fall.
Three cities dropped their contention since July, when the UBC did its first wave of outreach for potential bidding cities, San Diego, Green Bay and Calgary.
“The Host Cities will help define the United Bid, United Bid Committee Executive Director John Kristick said. “Each will offer the best facilities and infrastructure to stage the world’s biggest single-event sporting competition, the FIFA World Cup, and together they will play a key role in the development of the sport in North America.
“We’re thrilled with the submissions that we have received, especially each city’s commitment to innovation and sustainability, and we look forward to bringing the best group of candidate host cities together for our official United Bid.”
It expected that only 20 to 25 cities will make the final cut, which should be submitted to FIFA by the UBC come March 16, 2018. And if the United Bid is selected to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup over Morocco’s bid, subject to FIFA’s specification, a total of 12 cities will be ultimately be named Official Host Cities for the 48-team tournament.
Here is the list of the 41 cities that are in contention at the moment:
City | Stadium | Capacity |
Canada (6 cities) | ||
Edmonton, Alberta | Commonwealth Stadium | 56,335 |
Montréal, Québec | Stade Olympique | 61,004 |
Ottawa, Ontario | TD Place Stadium | 24,341 |
Regina, Saskatchewan | Mosaic Stadium | 30,048 |
Toronto, Ontario | BMO Field | 28,026 |
Vancouver, British Columbia | BC Place | 55,165 |
Mexico (3 cities) | ||
Guadalajara, Jalisco | Estadio Chivas | 45,364 |
Mexico City | Estadio Azteca | 87,000 |
Monterrey, Nuevo León | Estadio Rayados | 52,237 |
United States (32 cities) | ||
Atlanta, GA | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | 75,000 |
Baltimore, MD | M&T Bank Stadium | 71,008 |
Birmingham, AL | Legion Field | 71,594 |
Boston, MA (Foxborough, MA) | Gillette Stadium | 65,892 |
Charlotte, NC | Bank of America Stadium | 75,400 |
Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 61,500 |
Cincinnati, OH | Paul Brown Stadium | 65,515 |
Cleveland, OH | FirstEnergy Stadium | 68,710 |
Dallas, TX | Cotton Bowl | 92,100 |
Dallas, TX (Arlington, TX) | AT&T Stadium | 105,000 |
Denver, CO | Sports Authority Field at Mile High | 76,125 |
Detroit, MI | Ford Field | 65,000 |
Houston, TX | NRG Stadium | 71,500 |
Indianapolis, IN | Lucas Oil Stadium | 65,700 |
Jacksonville, FL | EverBank Field | 64,000 |
Kansas City, MO | Arrowhead Stadium | 76,416 |
Las Vegas, NV | Raiders Stadium | 72,000 |
Los Angeles, CA | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 78,500 |
Los Angeles, CA (Inglewood, CA) | LA Stadium at Hollywood Park | TBD |
Los Angeles, CA (Pasadena, CA) | Rose Bowl | 87,527 |
Miami, FL | Hard Rock Stadium | 65,767 |
Minneapolis, MN | U.S. Bank Stadium | 63,000 |
Nashville, TN | Nissan Stadium | 69,143 |
New Orleans, LA | Mercedes-Benz Superdome | 72,000 |
New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford, NJ) | MetLife Stadium | 82,500 |
Orlando, FL | Camping World Stadium | 65,000 |
Philadelphia, PA | Lincoln Financial Field | 69,328 |
Phoenix, AZ (Glendale, AZ) | University of Phoenix Stadium | 73,000 |
Pittsburgh, PA | Heinz Field | 68,400 |
Salt Lake City, UT | Rice-Eccles Stadium | 45,807 |
San Antonio, TX | Alamodome | 72,000 |
San Francisco/San Jose, CA (Santa Clara, CA) | Levi’s Stadium | 72,000 |
Seattle, WA | CenturyLink Field | 69,000 |
Tampa, FL | Raymond James Stadium | 73,309 |
Washington, DC (Landover, MD) | FedEx Field | 82,000 |
Only 12 total stadiums? 12 US stadiums makes sense 60 games total 5 each, plus 2 or 3 in Canada and Mexico for their 10 matches
Such a punchable face.
Please rule out all stadiums where heat will be a problem. The ’94 WC was brutal for heat. Games are played in the middle of the day to capture the Euro TV market. This caused a lot of games to played in heat and worse, high humidity. The life was not only sucked out of many games, but by the end of the tournament, the championship game was a moribund affair played by two tired and heat exhausted teams. Priority should be given to indoor stadiums and those in more temperate parts of the country. Let’s learn from the mistake of giving Qatar the games in the summer ‘re winter or whenever they’ll be played.
Its a valid point, but also an interesting debate. Soccer is very much an outdoor game. How do the organizers balance playing games at reasonable temps for more enetertaining play vs keeping it a “Pure experience”?
Only reasonable spots for the final are LA, NYC and DC right?
As a non- traditional soccer venue, and major homer pick, I’d hope the Superdome in New Orleans is pushing for consideration as a site.
many grammar errors in this piece