Houston will be on the short list of cities to be included in America’s bid to host the World Cup. As reported last week:
The USA Bid Committee will conclude its eight-month host city selection process by unveiling the list of 18 cities to be included in the bid Tuesday. The bid is due to FIFA by May 14, and soccer’s world governing body will announce the winning bids in December.
Houston bid committee members, which include public and private entities, like the city’s chances of making the cut.
The list is now out, and Houston is on it. Among those not making the cut were Chicago and San Francisco. FIFA’s rules allow for a max of 12 stadia to be selected, though the US is pushing for that to be increased to 14. Either way, if the American bid advances further, another winnowing will need to be done. More here and here. The bid is for either 2018 or 2022. If it were to be held here, it would be at Reliant Stadium.
Dallas will make the cut for certain. I went to the Chelsea-Club America friendly match there in July and there were 70,000+ to watch a friendly between an English and Mexican team. The new Cowboy stadium is one impressive venue for soccer.
What was San Francisco going to offer? An aging Candlestick Park?
LA and New York are givens. Those are the cities foreign visitors most want to visit and both will have new stadiums by then I expect. At a minimum LA will have a remodeled Rose Bowl or Coliseum but more likely a new NFL venue by then. My bet is that Seattle will also make the cut. The Seahawks stadium is one impressive venue as well and that city supports soccer like no other in the US.
I would consider Houston to be in the upper tier of remaining finalists. Certainly ahead of Indianapolis, Baltimore, and Kansas City. I would expect Baltimore to drop out in favor of Washington DC (Baltimore and Washington are almost exactly the same distance apart as Dallas and Fort Worth) and Washington is much more of an international destination city obviously.
So by my “off the cuff” calculations, Houston is in good shape.
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