If the United States wins its aggressive bid to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022, 18 cities will vie to host matches in what is arguably the most important sporting competition on the planet. Unsurprisingly, Washington, D.C., will be one of those cities. The USA Bid Commitee announced this afternoon that D.C. will be represented in the official United States bid book for the 2018 and 2022 finals with the inclusion of FedEx Field as a potential venue.
The bid committee — which includes members like filmmaker Spike Lee, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Washington Post CEO Katharine Weymouth — underwent a nine-month process to cut the initial laundry list of city candidates from 70 to 58 to 37 to 27, and finally, today, the 18 which represent this country’s best foot forward. (Obviously, the availability of appropriate stadia is less of a problem here, that in, say, South Africa. Amazingly, the average capacity of the 18 venues named is well over 70,000.) While it was nearly a given that Washington — home to a sizable Spanish-speaking population, the domestic league’s most decorated club, and one of the country’s larger football fanbases — was included in the bid, it’s really special to think that this is the next step to a World Cup match or two in our backyard come 2018 or 2022. Baltimore was also named as a possible venue.
It should be noted that World Cup finals are normally only featured in no more than 12 venues — so this list would certainly be trimmed if the bid was awarded. (Interestingly enough, the 1994 Cup in the States only featured nine venues, including RFK Stadium, which hosted four group matches and a round of 16 match.) The United States is considered a solid, but not overwhelming, favorite to be awarded the 2022 finals; it would be a tremendous shock if England were not awarded the 2018 competition. The entirety of the U.S. bid can be read here; Washington’s bid page is also available for consumption. FIFA is scheduled to visit the U.S. in September, and will announce the host country for both the 2018 and 2022 Finals on December 2.
Full list of bid cities: Atlanta, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Seattle, Denver, Tampa, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Nashville, Kansas City, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, D.C., Boston, New York/New Jersey.
