US 2018 World Cup Bid Still On Track

A week ago our discussion on FIFA VP Jack Warner wanting the USSF to hold their World Cup bid for the 2018 Cup and use it on the 2022 Cup looks like the USSF didn’t listen.

Word today out of Chicago and the Big Apple, is U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati is still confident the US can get the bid for the 2018 Cup regardless of what Warner thinks. Also, after the friendly between the US and Argentina on Sunday, Gulanti has even more confidence that a Cup in the States would be another huge success.

“We will make a decision in the next two or three months, but we are looking at it very seriously,” Gulati said of a potential U.S. bid for 2018. “I can’t think of any reasons why we wouldn’t bid for 2018.

“We’ve done this before and been successful at doing it,” Gulati said. “We are determined to finish what we started in 1994.”

U.S. Soccer still hasn’t made a formal bid, but is in the process of considering one and all signs are pointing to a bid happening after listening to Gulanti speak on this matter.

If the United States does bid for the 2018 World Cup and receive the nomination, the new Giants Stadium is expected to be the featured venue for the tournament. If you haven’t seen photos of the new stadium in the Meadowloands, take a moment and do so because this venue will be impressive. And if Sunday’s game is any indication, another United States World Cup could potentially be even more successful than the one held almost 15 years ago.

This all got me thinking too about the stadiums that will be open in the US or have been open in the US by 2018. I believe FIFA requires a stadium to be a minimum capacity of 40,000 seats. The US is packed full of large stadiums due to the NFL and college football. I also wouldn’t be at all shocked to see a soccer stadium (or two) in MLS expanded by that time to help gain this bid.

Look across the board at the stadiums and venues that the US can put into their bid. I believe now and by then it will be even more impressive than the 1994 bid.

You can use a lot of the same cities from the 1994 Cup because most of them have/will have new stadiums by 2018.

• Chicago – Soldier Field: A World Cup in the US has to have Chicago as a host, and Soldier Field is the venue, or maybe an Olympic Stadium, should the Windy City win over the IOC for the 2016 Olympics.
• Dallas – New Cowboys Stadium: The only way the Big D gets in on the bid is due to this new, impressive stadium in Arlington. This place is going to be open next year and is expandable up to 100,000 seats. Yeah, I’m pretty sure there are enough people in Texas that could pack that stadium for a World Cup match.
• LA – Rose Bowl: Hard to imagine a World Cup bid without this stadium. Though I could eventually see the Home Depot Center get expanded to meet the minimum capacity for a host stadium. That would be pretty cool to see.
• New England – Gillette Stadium: After seeing them host a bunch of friendlies over the last couple years this makes perfect sense.
• Seattle – Qwest Field: I think we will see next year just how good of a stadium Qwest Field really is for soccer. Its built for it and the stadium has shown before it can host and host well.
• Phoenix – University of Phoenix Stadium: I love this venue for soccer, its the Pontiac Superdome of this bid.
• DC – FedEx Field: Another town that is hard to imagine not being apart of this bid. The stadium is huge and has shown it can host soccer very nicely.
• NY/NJ – New Giants Stadium: Expected to be the center piece in this bid and for good reason.