That fails to account for geography, which could play against Philly.
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Add in Detroit, too, which hosted matches in the ’94 World Cup, is close to fellow host-nation Canada and was one of the host cities for this summer’s International Champions Cup - a made up tournament that serves as a money grab for top European clubs each summer - along with Orlando, Nashville and some of the aforementioned other contenders.Īnd…that’s 15 cities, plus the two Florida cities that don’t make the first cut. It could be Tampa or Orlando, but it’s definitely going to be one of those three.Īfter that, expect Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Denver and Nashville to make the best case for inclusion, as all have hosted major events in recent years for U.S. The likely next four cities would be Phoenix, Boston - Bob Kraft has a ton of stroke in U.S. There’s no way Chicago doesn’t get a big set of matches. Chicago is the biggest city in the midwest and is also the home base for U.S. Dallas has maybe the best stadium in the United States right now and a huge fan base in the area, plus it’s very close to Mexico, so expect a semifinal there. There’s no way the semifinals and finals won’t be in the LA and NYC markets, and surely those cities will get group stage games as well. I’d say the following cities are locks: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas. Now, the United States may figure out a way to sneak 10 cities out of this deal, but even then Philly has some really stiff competition to be picked. United States fans holding up scarfs as they stand for the anthem at Lincoln Financial Field. Moreover, there are more and more cities that have become soccer hotbeds in this country since the mid-90s, Philly included.
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( For the full list, click here.) If the United States gets just eight host cities, one of those cities will miss out. All nine are part of the 34 United States cities on the list, including Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Orlando, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. That only leaves eight cities in the United States that will get to host matches.ĭuring the 1994 World Cup in the United States, nine cities hosted the 52 matches. Let’s presume of the 12 host cities that get selected by the bid committee, two each will go to Mexico and Canada, giving all of those venues a potential for four to six matches over the month-long event. For this tournament, it was just the two, and with Morocco not being nearly as viable a contender, it was always just the one. In other years, multiple countries would bid, with rounds of voting to chose a host. The only other country to bid for the 2026 tournament by last week’s deadline was Morocco, so it’s all but a lock FIFA will quickly award the event to the Unified North American bid. Those include both the group stage matches and potential knockout rounds, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and final taking place in the United States. The 2026 World Cup will have 80 matches, with 60 being held in the United States and 10 each in Mexico and Canada.