USA optimistic of bids to host World Cup in 2018 or 2022
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
As the U.S. men's soccer team prepares to play in the World Cup, other Americans are competing to bring that tournament back to their homeland.
The USA joins 10 other nations bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. FIFA, soccer's international governing body, will announce the sites for both events Dec. 2.
Being chosen "would be the ultimate verification that we, in fact, are a powerful and passionate soccer country," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber, one of the bid committee's 22 board members.
The USA played host to the 1994 World Cup amid international skepticism because the USA had not qualified between 1950 and 1990 and had no professional league. But the event set records for total attendance (more than 3.5 million) and average attendance (68,991) and became pivotal to soccer's development in the USA, said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, the bid committee's chairman who helped bring the 1994 event to the USA.
"Before, we didn't have a men's or a women's professional league," Gulati said. "We didn't have any soccer-specific stadiums. We didn't have the sort of interest in the World Cup in the American sports community as now.
"The World Cup provided a great impetus to make those things happen more quickly."
The USA faces competition from England, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Qatar. Spain and Portugal are bidding as a unit, as are Belgium and the Netherlands.
Europe holds the advantage in securing the 2018 bid.
The last World Cup held on the continent was in Germany in 2006. Since 1950, when the event has been staged every four years, Europe has never gone more than eight years between hosting.
The 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil. FIFA President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter said in January that only European candidates would be considered for the 2018 host.
"I don't think it's a foregone conclusion," Gulati said. "But I think a number of members of the (FIFA) executive committee have indicated that 2018 should go to Europe."
The USA's bid emphasizes the nation's established transportation and telecommunications systems as well as stadiums that can accommodate large crowds for big events.
Among the 21 stadiums included in the bid are the Rose Bowl, Cowboys Stadium, FedEx Field, Lucas Oil Stadium, Meadowlands Stadium, Reliant Stadium and Qwest Field.
"All the infrastructure for a World Cup exists," Gulati said. "That's not necessarily the case for an Olympics in one city. We've got extraordinary infrastructure already built."
The USA will make its case in a 1,000-page bid book that will feature preliminary budgets, profit projections and signed contracts with hotels, stadiums and broadcasters.
FIFA will receive all bids May 14 and will inspect the sites in the fall.
Supporting the U.S. bid are Henry Kissinger, Drew Carey, Oscar De La Hoya, Spike Lee, Mia Hamm and Donna Shalala, all of whom belong to the bid committee's board.
MLS provides logistical support. Soccer United Marketing, which the league operates, manages sponsorship sales.
"I consider this one of my biggest priorities, for sure," Garber said. "We're going to do everything we can to help, from utilizing our creative resources internally to our influence in our local markets."
Garber hopes a successful bid will be a boon to MLS.
"We're going to be able to capitalize on all that interest and excitement in the decade leading up to the tournament," Garber said.
"There's probably no single thing that could drive the interest and popularity of our league more than the World Cup." [Via]
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