Filed under: FIFA World Cup, US Soccer
A lot of very large, modern stadiums, none of which are in or near Chicago or San Francisco, anchor the U.S. Soccer Federation’s list of 18 cities that will be included in its official bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Detroit and Orlando, which also were among the hosts in 1994, were excluded, while cities with neither FIFA nor MLS pedigree like Indianapolis, Nashville, Phoenix and San Diego made the cut.
“By virtue of the quality of our cities and stadiums, it was very difficult to reduce the field to the maximum of 18 established by FIFA,” USA Bid Committee executive director David Downs said in a press release. Nine cities were eliminated from the working total of 27. The others were Charlotte, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Oakland, Orlando and St. Louis. U.S. Soccer didn’t reveal the rationale behind its specific choices but listed “21 key criteria” it used to make the selections including everything from “pitch size and overlay,” hotel space and “the history of each city related to soccer.”
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