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As the U.S. Soccer Federation continues building momentum towards its 2018/2022 bid to host the World Cup, the list of cities has now been trimmed to 27, with 32 possible stadiums still in the mix.
11 cities have been cut, leaving cities like Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Seattle, St. Louis, and Cleveland amongst the contenders to potentially host World Cup events.
The deadline for the bid is May 2010, with the range of stadiums from 12 to 18. Stadiums must all have a minimum capacity of 40,000, with a capacity of at least 80,000 for the opening match and the final.
What do you think about the latest hosting developments? Can't wait to see if the U.S. gets wins the bid? Share your thoughts below.
it would be AWESOME!! to have the World Cup Final at the NEW COWBOY STADIUM!!
One thing to keep in mind is that our selection of cities might affect our chances of winning the right to host the world cup. In the 1994 World Cup, one of the complaints was the blistering heat in some cities, which made for some uninteresting games. The TV moguls will require that many of the games are daytime games, so that the lucrative European audience can watch the matches live.
The point here is that we should be cautious about selecting outdoor venues in places like Florida or Texas. We don’t want to give the world cup selection committee any excuse not to vote for the USA to host.
DALLAS Cowboy stadium should be the first on the list!:) The mexican vs Haiti game generated 83,000 with 12,000 extra seats not being sold!!! The stadium is insane!!
I am a total homer, but LP Field in Nashville is a great place to see a game. It was built with soccer in mind. Keeping my fingers crossed….
Albert Perez has a good list to start, but I’m pretty sure that USA Soccer will submit a full group of 18 stadiums and not show their hand until it is necessary. I think that you can pretty much bank on a stadium in the same city as every current American MLS team (except KC… but see below).
That being said, I give my extra five choices to Denver, St. Louis (for KC), Baltimore (unless Landover is considered a lock, in which case I would take Tampa), Philadelphia, and Atlanta (because I think there will be at least two domes to make the list.
They would use 8 to 12 stadiums in the group matches, but I think we can be certain that the committee would pick the Rose Bowl, Meadowlands, and Cowboys Stadium for the later elimination games.
Indianapolis!!!!!!!
We are the only city that hosts large European events right now. MotoGP, F1
We host the World’s largest attended sporting event (Indy500) 250,000 in the stands on that Sunday.
We know how to host big events.
While I knew New Orleans would never make the final cut, it sure was fun to dream of World Cup soccer in Louisiana.
Oh well, maybe next time (…but probably not).
Arrowhead was used as the test venue for the “platform” system that enabled grass fields to be installed at the Pontiac Silverdome and Giants Stadium. When the organizers took the FIFA people to see the platforms, they were amazed. “Why didn’t you tell us about THIS stadium?” they asked.
If Kansas City gets selected, I don’t think FIFA would have any objections.
These are the 13 venues that I think are a lock from the current list of venues :
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough
Soldier Field, Chicago
Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Ford Field, Detroit… Read More
Reliant Stadium, Houston
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Land Shark Stadium, Miami
LP Field, Nashville
Meadowlands, New Jersey
Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.
Qwest Field, Seattle
FedEx Field, Landover, Md.
Possible additions/Honorable mentions:
Browns Stadium, Cleveland
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
INVESCO Field, Denver
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Stanford Stadium, Stanford, Calif.
Coliseum, Los Angeles (The stadium and its vicinty would need to undergo an EXTREME renovation)
If it’s built anytime soon, you can add the 49ers 68k+ Stadium
C’mon Husky Stadium! I could walk to the game!
I agree with the above poster. Kansas City is a dark horse. With the renovated Arrowhead and some leadership from OnGoal, the Wizards ownership group, they could make some noise over STL and some other Midwestern cities.
Phoenix is 12th largest metro, saying 5th largest city means nothing, p.s.
Houston is a lock.
I’m surprised San Antonio got cut so early. The Alamo Dome has one of the best locations in sports.
It was obvious the Metrodome would be dropped. The facility is aging, the Gophers have left, the Twins will be leaving and the Vikings want out too.
@ Seattle 2 – Portland 1 Go Blue and Go Sounders
Really shocked to see Columbus taken off, a city with a strong soccer following and Ohio Stadium seats 100,000.
although maybe the biggest issue is turf
Crossing fingers for Cleveland….I think it would be great to have it in a few cities that might need a “jump start” to their economy.
Posted by: Dman | August 20, 2009 at 04:11 PM”
Damn I hope the economy isn’t still in the tank by then
Posted by: Brian | August 20, 2009 at 04:29 PM
Even before the economy took a dip, Cleveland as a whole has been on the downfall
What’s wrong with the “Pheonix” stadium?
There isn’t anything wrong with “indoor” stadiums, especially because Phoenix has retractable turf, can seat >70,000, has the infrastructure to host the event and is the 5th largest city in the United States.
”
Really shocked to see Columbus taken off, a city with a strong soccer following and Ohio Stadium seats 100,000.
although maybe the biggest issue is turf
Crossing fingers for Cleveland….I think it would be great to have it in a few cities that might need a “jump start” to their economy.
Posted by: Dman | August 20, 2009 at 04:11 PM”
Damn I hope the economy isn’t still in the tank by then
The biggest issue with Ohio Stadium is not the turf, but the narrow field size. I’d have thought that would have eliminated Michigan Stadium as well (but I would imagine any Detroit WC games would be at Ford Field).
Cleveland would great. Nice downtown stadium on the waterfront.
Go Blue!
i dont see them picking pheonix at least i would hope they wouldnt
1 indoor stadium is enough and thats going to the new cowboys stadium
CLEEEEEEEEEEEEEVELANDDDDDDD
Should be great when the City Stars make the jump up to MLS.
Well, I can dream, can’t I?
Really shocked to see Columbus taken off, a city with a strong soccer following and Ohio Stadium seats 100,000.
although maybe the biggest issue is turf
Crossing fingers for Cleveland….I think it would be great to have it in a few cities that might need a “jump start” to their economy.
I’m not holding my breath, but I would probably have tears in my eyes watching a World Cup game in Indy!! The Oil Can has got to be one of the nicest stadiums on that list, but I don’t know if that’s enought to get it done.
I’d have to consider Foxboro/Boston to be pretty close to a lock as well
Mathew,
I think you are forgetting New York City.
Baltimore needs it. First stadium to sell out the World Football Challenge. Lovely park. Good down town if you don’t get shot.
Lets be honest, we know which venues are pretty much locks-
DC, Chicago, Seattle, SoCal, Dallas (new cowboys stadium), after that is where it gets interesting. Most likely Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix-Glendale, will be included too. Will another midwest city get it? Cleveland? Michigan? Where in the southeast?
Oh no, Fayetteville, Ark has been removed from the list. When I think of world class soccer, the first place that comes to mind is Fayetteville, Ark.
@Texas – Go to the USMNT Blog for the list.
@Matt – Not much I can say about the recent results. The stadium has almost the same design as the Rose Bowl and it gets finals. It’s all about how many spectators can get in. Although I don’t think they would ever play the final there. Columbus, OSU, Shithole still suck.
@smits – When you make a bid for evens like this they want every detail as far as hospitality, travel, logisitics, etc…so you can’t really have it that open-ended.
Stadium list:
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Federation-Services/2009/08/27-Cities-Chosen-For-World-Cup-Bid.aspx
Where are y’all seeing the official list? I looked on that site and in that story and didn’t see it.
What am I missing?
it seems inevitable that the new meadowlands stadium or the rose bowl will get the final….although new stadiums like the one in dallas serve as dark horses…
Micronesia Justin: at least that “shithole” stadium to the south can keep in noise….in your stadium it goes straight up…a final in ann arbor would never happen….i’d be more concerned about the american football team that plays there in the fall…five straight losses to osu must really hurt and 42-7 last year….ouch
Why does FIFA want to limit the number of stadiums? If a big country with a lot of big stadiums like the US gets the bid you would think they would want to have the highest number of live spectators possible.
In my opinion the higher the number of host venues the better. Increasing soccer awareness in places like Fayetteville, Arkansas and Birmingham, Alabama can only be a good thing. Think about it, if hosting one WC game in a college town with a bunch of “rednecks” is the price of raising awareness in more rural America how is that a bad thing?
On the other hand I could see WC organizers pricing out more rural populations and defeating the purpose if they did host games there.
Don’t look now but KC is still on the list!!! Arrowhead’s renovation will make it one of the best stadia in the good ole U.S.of A. Fingers crossed on wether or not we get the bid.
@ Brian – According to one article I read the 49ers stadium could be added later.
Woo! ATL still in the mix!!!
Hey Ives, the 49ers are looking to build a new stadium at Candlestick Point or in the city of Santa Clara and are aiming for a 2014 completion date. If such a stadium was completed, it would easily be the best venue in the Bay Area. Would it be able to be considered for the 2018/2022 World Cup bid? Or would it be too late?
As a Michigan grad I love that Michigan Stadium made the cut and that shithole of a stadium to the south didn’t. Biggest stadium left. How awesome would a final be with 112,000?!
At least Clemson is off the list! 😉