18 US World Cup Bid Cities Announced

Sunil Gulati just announced the 18 cities in the United States World Cup bid. They are as follows:

Atlanta
San Diego
Phoenix
Dallas (Cotton Bowl and Cowboy Stadium)
Seattle
Denver
Tampa Bay
Indianapolis
Baltimore
Nashville
Kansas City
Houston
Miami
Philadelphia
Los Angeles (Rose Bowl and LA Memorial Coliseum)
Washington DC
Boston
New York

Some of the notable snubs? Chicago, the third largest metropolitan area in the United States and a venue in the 1994 World Cup, was not included in the bid, due to what Sunil Gulati referred to as "Olympic bid fatigue" in the politicos who were unsuccessful in their serious efforts to win the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. In addition, the San Jose-Oakland-San Francisco metro area, the 13th largest in the nation, was not included on the list.

Some surprise inclusions? I was not expecting Indianapolis to be on this list, but Lucas Oil Stadium is a fantastic venue worthy of hosting a World Cup match. Other than that, I wasn't overly shocked by any of the other 17 cities on the list.


Gulati made it a point that all of the stadiums on the list aren't necessarily going to host matches, as FIFA and the USSF would work together to narrow the cities down to 9-12 should the US win the bid.