Southern California to be included in World Cup bid
Soccer’s World Cup may be coming back to Southern California.
The USA Bid Committee on Tuesday released the list of the 18 metropolitan areas that will be included in the bid book it will present to FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, in hopes of winning the rights to the men’s World Cup in 2018 or 2022, and Los Angeles-Pasadena was among the markets included.
Jurgen Mainka, director of marketing and communications for the committee, said the group looked at a variety of factors during its eight-month study of prospective Cup sites. And the Southland scores high in most of those.
“This is a process in which we looked at many, many, many different areas,” he said. “Things that range from stadium field dimension to transportation infrastructure, distances between venues within the city. History of soccer in the city. As well as passion for the game. For the bid committee, this list of 18 cities is to represent what we think, at this moment, is the best proposal to win the honor of hosting the World Cup.”
Among the cities joining L.A. on the list are Miami, New York, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Boston and Baltimore. Among the cities that were considered but didn’t make the cut were Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco.
Chicago lost out to Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics. “I think there’s a little Olympic fatigue. I think the [Chicago] Park District had a tough time wrestling with FIFA requirements in short order after the IOC decision,” said Sunil Gulati, U.S. Soccer Federation president.
The USA Bid Committee must submit its formal proposal to FIFA by May 14. A FIFA technical committee will then make site visits before FIFA’s executive committee takes its final vote Dec. 2 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Aside from the U.S., England, Netherlands-Belgium, Russia, Spain-Portugal, Australia and Japan are bidding to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Indonesia, Qatar and South Korea are bidding for 2022 only. England is considered the favorite for 2018 and the U.S. for 2022.
The U.S. played host to the men’s World Cup in 1994 and the women’s tournament in 1999 and 2003. The 1994 event drew a World Cup-record 3.6 million spectators, making it the best-attended sporting event in U.S. history.
In all three cases the championship match was played in Southern California, and Mainka says the Rose Bowl and Coliseum should keep the Southland among the favorites to stage the final.
