World Cup: USA to bid to host 2026 World Cup but to share it with Canada and Mexico?

[Live in the Now]

Yeah, if you did Iran-New Zealand in LA, you could get at least 70,000 people to that game. The games Canada should get are matches featuring the likes of Portugal who probably don't have as many people here as in Canada. I don't know if FIFA would do this, but when it comes to an American WC, they shouldn't schedule where the games are played until the draw is made.

 

[Burner Account]

Yeah, if you did Iran-New Zealand in LA, you could get at least 70,000 people to that game. The games Canada should get are matches featuring the likes of Portugal who probably don't have as many people here as in Canada. I don't know if FIFA would do this, but when it comes to an American WC, they shouldn't schedule where the games are played until the draw is made.

I agree with that idea. The U.S. is too big and has too many concentrated populations. For example, I don't know about LA metro but NY metro has a pretty significant Portuguese population.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Soccer fans in general would show up in huge numbers just to watch a team like Portugal. I know I would. Euro club pre-season sell-out big baseball stadiums all the time, regardless of location. The World Cup in 94 still has the best numbers and that was before soccer got huge in the States.

It's idiotic to think that only areas with populations high in Italians or Portuguese or Spanish or etc. would have high attendances for those countries.

 

[Burner Account]

Soccer fans in general would show up in huge numbers just to watch a team like Portugal. I know I would. Euro club pre-season sell-out big baseball stadiums all the time, regardless of location. The World Cup in 94 still has the best numbers and that was before soccer got huge in the States.

It's idiotic to think that only areas with populations high in Italians or Portuguese or Spanish or etc. would have high attendances for those countries.

Oh. Alright.

 

[Live in the Now]

Soccer fans in general would show up in huge numbers just to watch a team like Portugal. I know I would. The World Cup in 94 still has the best numbers and that was before soccer got huge in the States.

It's idiotic to think that only areas with populations high in Italians or Portuguese or Spanish or etc. would have high attendances for those countries.

Never said that. You don't give Canada the worst looking games though, because in some cases games like those would be bigger here than one with Australia in it.

Euro club pre-season sell-out big baseball stadiums all the time, regardless of location.

This is half true. In some places with certain matchups, they really don't.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Never said that. You don't give Canada the worst looking games though, because in some cases games like those would be bigger here than one with Australia in it.

If that's how it would go down, the US would just say it's all or nothing then. It's not like this is an equal bid, it's a US bid with the US giving some games to Canada and Mexico. Without the US, Canada and Mexico don't have any potential World Cup games.

 

[bleedblue1223]

This is half true. In some places with certain matchups, they really don't.

Prime soccer markets they do. Every soccer game placed at Busch either sold out before tickets were made available to public or within hours. The point is though, that those games are not competitive and most of the time, you only see a couple of the big names only for a portion of the game.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Well a lot can change until 2026 but usually the venues to each group game are determined before the draw, which is why teams know where they are playing the second they are drawn

For example they are already known for 2018: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup#Group_A

Anyway, seeing the ticket prices for the Copa America Cent. and this ICC in the summer, I imagine these being through the roof, even for smaller matchups

 

[Theokritos]

Why would the USA want to co-host it anyway?

 

[bluesfan94]

Why would the USA want to co-host it anyway?

What do you mean?

 

[Theokritos]

What do you mean?

Co-hosting is for countries that don't have the capacity to host the World Cup on their own. The USA don't need it, they can easily host it on their own. If they want to, on the East Coast in one year and on the West Coast 4 years later.

 

[bluesfan94]

My guess is that it's done in the spirit of inclusivity. And it will make CONCACAF better as a whole. Plus USA gets the vast majority of the games

 

[phisherman]

Could be possible that FIFA wants the US to share the hosting with those two countries.

 

[Live in the Now]

80 games is just far too many for a WC. There were games in France last summer that they couldn't sell all the seats for, so I can imagine what it'll be like when they try to have the whole thing in one country that isn't as gigantic as ours.

 

[nickp91]

lots of talk of the reform of Canada Soccer, comparing it to the reform of the USSF in the 90s

 

[HajdukSplit]

FIFA will not 'fast track' the US/MEX/CAN bid, meaning other nations have until August of this year to put in a bid for the 2026 World Cup. At the moment, Asia and Europe are not eligible to bid for 2026 (though FIFA can change this at their next FIFA Congress in June), South America is holding out until the 100th anniversary of the World Cup in 2030. This leaves Africa as the only confederation which can put in a bid

Morocco has been mentioned as a possible bid, hard to see them hosting a 48-team World Cup on their own, but they have bid for past World Cups (1994, 1998, 2006, 2010...they came close to winning the 2010 bid)

At the end of the day, the US/MEX/CAN is definitely still the heavy favorite but my guess FIFA wants to have some sort of bid process, wouldn't shock me if they change the rules and allow another Asian (China?) country or European country to bid

 

[Deficient Mode]

At the end of the day, the US/MEX/CAN is definitely still the heavy favorite but my guess FIFA wants to have some sort of bid process, wouldn't shock me if they change the rules and allow another Asian (China?) country or European country to bid

Can't get bribes if there's no competition

 

[Elliman]

The decision will be pushed forward. USA IMHO is a lock.

I went to several USA 94 games and had a blast.

Will be interesting to see if Canada & Mexico get automatic qualification. I think they should and they should host home matches. People will ***** about Canada getting a pass into the WC but you just can't have a team host something as huge as the World Cup and not play in it.

Take two automatic spots away from Concacaf and let the rest battle it out for the remaining 4 or 5 spots depending on how many they get with the expanded World Cup.

 

[Cory Trevor]

Why would the US want to pay for the costs of hosting a match between Iran and New Zealand, for example, when they can push that game to Mexico or Canada?

I was just making a point that the quality of product will be far greater with shorter distance travelling.

I guess though just for argument sake, I'm not sure who pays the costs for travel, is it the individual teams?

 

[HajdukSplit]

Morocco officially place a bid for the 2026 World Cup so the North American bid, while still being overwhelming favorites, will have some competition. Morocco have bid a few times before and came close to winning in 2010. CAF will obviously support this bid and they seem pretty influential in these things

 

[Luigi Habs]

Are you sure the CAF will support Morocco after the Afcon fiasco?

 

[Suiteness]

Don't see CONCACAF losing out here, it's just been way too long since they've hosted the event.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Here are the preliminary cities for the 2026 World Cup, overall 34 cities in the US, 7 from Canada and only 3 from Mexico. It is not yet known how many will actually be selected should the North American bid win the World Cup, it is believed to be at least 12, some interesting options including Green Bay ffs Only stadiums with 80,000+ capacity can host the opener and final, as already confirmed the US will host the tournament from the quarterfinals onward

Out of this list, 20-25 will be selected for the final bid which will be sent to FIFA, sometime early next year

UNITED STATES
- Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
- M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore)
- Legion Field (Birmingham)
- Gillette Stadium (Boston/Foxborough)
- Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte)
- Soldier Field (Chicago)
- Paul Brown Stadium (Cincinnati)
- First Energy Stadium (Cleveland)
- Cotton Bowl (Dallas)
- AT&T Stadium (Dallas/Arlington)
- Sports Authority Field (Denver)
- Ford Field (Detroit)
- Lambeau Field (Green Bay)
- NRG Stadium (Houston)
- Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)
- EverBank Field (Jacksonville)
- Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City)
- "New Raiders Stadium" (Las Vegas)**
- LA Memorial Coliseum (Los Angeles)
- City of Champions Stadium (Los Angeles)**
- Rose Bowl (Los Angeles/Pasadena)
- Hard Rock Stadium (Miami)
- U.S. Bank Stadium (Minneapolis)
- Nissan Stadium (Nashville)
- Mercedes-Benz Superdome (New Orleans)
- MetLife Stadium (New York City/East Rutherford)
- Camping World Stadium (Orlando)
- Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)
- University of Phoenix Stadium (Phoenix/Glendale)
- Heinz Field (Pittsburgh)
- Rice-Eccles Stadium (Salt Lake City)
- Alamodome (San Antonio)
- Qualcomm Stadium (San Diego)
- Levi's Stadium (San Francisco/Santa Clara)
- CenturyLink Field (Seattle)
- Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay)
- FedEx Field (Washington D.C./Landover)

CANADA
- McMahon Stadium (Calgary)
- Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton)
- Stade Olympique (Montreal)
- Stade Saputo (Montreal)
- TD Place Stadium (Ottawa)
- Mosaic Stadium (Regina)
- Rogers Centre (Toronto)
- BMO Field (Toronto)
- BC Place (Vancouver)

MEXICO
- Estadio Chivas (Guadalajara)
- Estadio Azteca (Mexico City)
- Estadio Rayados (Monterrey)

** = stadium yet to be built

 

[Bakayoko Ono]

The stadium infrastructure in the US is riiiiidiculous.

 

[bleedblue1223]

The stadium infrastructure in the US is riiiiidiculous.

Yeah, college and professional football stadiums are perfect for this kind of an event. While, I completely understand of wanting to put the World Cup and Olympics all over the world, it surprises me at why they don't host in countries that can use existing infrastructure, instead of putting countries in massive debt building infrastructure that won't be used after the events are over.