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 |