USA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: American bid team announces 18 venues for 2018 and 2022 World Cup

Record ID: 783815

  • Title: USA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: American bid team announces 18 venues for 2018 and 2022 World Cup
  • Date: 13th January 2010
  • Summary: PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE-2009) (REUTERS-) VARIOUS OF ROSE BOWL WITH CHELSEA FANS OUTSIDE
  • Embargoed: 28th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA7TFOJ80Z0OVY7BUT73L9M1B7S
  • Story Text: Eighteen cities were named on Tuesday (January 12) as part of a United States bid for the 2018 or 2022 soccer World Cup, with Chicago notably absent from the list.
    The 18 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas and Boston, have stadiums with average seating capacities of 78,000.
    Other cities named in the bid that will be presented to FIFA on May 14 were Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C.
    The United States hosted the World Cup in 1994.
    Asked about Chicago failing to make the cut, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, whose organization is headquartered in Chicago, said: "I think there's a little Olympic fatigue."
    Chicago, unlike many of the cities selected, also has a Major League Soccer team.
    "The park district had a tough time wrestling with FIFA requirements and when we approached them they were still in the middle of their (failed 2016) Olympic bid," Gulati said.
    The U.S. bid provides FIFA with the maximum allowable number of cities at 18, all of whose stadia are finished and in use.
    "We're not building any new stadiums. In these extraordinary economic times, the ability to announce the 18 venues that we're going to announce, and world class stadiums, without need for public funds on infrastructure or on stadiums, I think gives us a great start," Gulati stated.
    As to whether the U.S. preferred one tournament over another when FIFA announces it's decision on December 2 in Zurich, Gulati said the bid team will take any opportunity to host the Cup, but that the later tournament was more likely.
    "I think there's a lot of people of the thinking and minds that 2018 will go to Europe. If that's the way that the voting goes, that's fine, we'd be happy with 2022. In general terms, maybe sooner is always better, but in this case having along build up while we're trying to build the sport, there might be some advantages to the later one," the Federation President said.
    U.S. BID FINAL CITIES: Atlanta Baltimore Boston Dallas Denver Houston Indianapolis Kansas City Los Angeles Miami Nashville New York Philadelphia Phoenix San Diego Seattle Tampa Washington, DC
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