US WC Bid Comittee picks short list of cities

[EPJr]

NEW YORK -- The USA Bid Committee today announced the 27 United States cities that passed the third stage of the city and stadium proposal review process and remain under consideration as potential host venues for the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022. These cities will continue working with the USA Bid Committee both on the development and promotion of their local and national campaigns. Officials representing a total of 38 cities received the Requests for Proposal (RFP) and had from June 16 to July 29 to complete their proposals and return them to the USA Bid Committee. The RFPs requested information from city officials covering a vast array of subjects such as tourism, climate, security, transportation, training sites, promotion and more.

"The USA Bid Committee is pleased to have received comprehensive responses from city officials and local organizing committees across the United States," said Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer. "The overwhelming interest and creativity shown by the candidate cities made our extensive review process that much more difficult in narrowing down the list."

The 11 cities removed during this round were: Birmingham, Ala.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Fayetteville, Ark.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Minneapolis, Minn.; New Orleans, La.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Salt Lake City, Utah and San Antonio, Tex.

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp ... &fext=.jsp

[dbackjon]

A little suprised SLC and Columbus missed this cut

[DukeJack]

A little suprised SLC and Columbus missed this cut

Hosting the World Cup would be all about profitability. Simply put, Rio Tinto and Columbus Crew Stadium only hold ~20k, but even the smallest NFL stadium holds three times as much. It's just business.

[dbackjon]

A little suprised SLC and Columbus missed this cut

Hosting the World Cup would be all about profitability. Simply put, Rio Tinto and Columbus Crew Stadium only hold ~20k, but even the smallest NFL stadium holds three times as much. It's just business.

I was more thinking the University of Utah Stadium (Echels) and tOSU's stadium for those cities.

[DukeJack]

I was more thinking the University of Utah Stadium (Echels) and tOSU's stadium for those cities.

Touche.

Eccles still only holds about 50k, so less than any NFL stadium. But Ohio State's I can't believe would meet the minimum field requirements, which for FIFA are 110x70 yds. Ohio Stadium is only 106x62 and can't be expanded because of the track. It made the initial lists because it holds over 100k and that's an eye-catching number, but it never had a realistic chance of hosting.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

super pissed that TCF Bank Stadium (the Gophers new 40000 capacity palace) was removed... that sucks.

[slycat]

I'm surprised that San Antonio got cut with the Hispanic market and all. I guess that pretty much means that Dallas will get it again and they don't want too many Texas sites. I'm more interested to see if Houston makes the final cut.