Chicago, San Francisco get World Cup boot

By foxsports
Published

Chicago's World Cup bid met the same fate as its tilt at the Olympics when it was dropped Tuesday from U.S. plans for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

Americans organizers selected 21 stadiums in 18 metropolitan areas to submit in their bid book to FIFA in May.

Also left off was San Francisco, but organizers said the Bay Area could return to contention if the 49ers get a new stadium in Santa Clara. Others not making the cut included Cleveland; Detroit; Jacksonville, Florida and St. Louis.

Chicago, beaten by Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics in October, has virtually no chance of getting back in consideration. That was a major surprise, given that Soldier Field hosted the 1994 World Cup opener.

"I think there's a little Olympic fatigue. I think the Park District had a tough time wrestling with FIFA requirements in short order after the IOC decision," U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said.

Gulati also cited the 61,000 capacity of renovated Solider Field for World Cup soccer.

"It would have been by about 10 percent the smallest stadium," Gulati said.

Stanford Stadium south of San Francisco, also a 1994 World Cup site, and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum had been among 32 stadiums in contention before 11 were trimmed Tuesday. Other 1994 World Cup sites dropped were Washington's RFK Stadium and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

Eighteen metropolitan areas and 21 stadiums survived the cut and will be part of the bid when FIFA's executive committee votes on Dec. 2 in Zurich.

The 18 metropolitan areas have stadiums in Atlanta; Baltimore; Dallas-Arlington, Texas; Denver; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Foxboro, Massachusetts; Glendale, Arizona; Houston; Indianapolis, Missouri; Kansas City, Missouri; Landover, Maryland; Los Angeles-Pasadena, California; Miami; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; San Diego; Seattle; and Tampa, Florida.

Gulati said they 18 stadiums would create an average capacity of 78,000 and allow the sale of a record 5 million tickets. The 1994 tournament in the U.S. set World Cup records with 3.59 million total attendance and an average of 68,991.

FIFA's rules call for nine to 12 stadiums to be picked. David Downs, U.S. bid executive director, said he hoped the governing body could be persuaded to expand the final list to 14.