US, Canada, Mexico win joint bid for 2026 World Cup

Zomp

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I believe I read that 60 out of the 80 games will be on US soil, including everything from the quarterfinals and on. Considering this world cup has 64 matches that's a great number for the US and should guarantee that stadiums get a few games.
 

Infield Infidel

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I'm more surprised they're going with BMO over Rogers, but with the Blue Jays needing it at the same time and plans to expand BMO to seat 45K for the tournament, it makes sense.
Yeah, BMO expands to 34K for playoff games and cup finals now with roll-away seats, rolling in a second deck of 5K seats each behind each goal shouldn't be hard.
 

Senator Donut

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Will they put a site in both Reliant and JerryWorld? JerryWorld is tailor-made for this.
According to the bid documents, Dallas is one of two venues under consideration for the final, the other being New York. The bid recommends a New York final with the semifinals in Atlanta and Dallas. New England and Washington are also under consideration.
 

67YAZ

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Arrrgghhhh, Chicago is not among the 23 candidate host cities. Rahm's office claims that FIFA could not provide "a basic level of certainty" for taxpayers. Yet we'll offer Amazon the option to keep over $1b of its employees taxes.../end rant.

 

Ale Xander

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Gillette is not in Boston, goddamit.

No Chicago is a little weird, sure, especially with their history of bribery.
No Phoenix either (demos, proximity to Mexico)

Cincinnati included is surprising.

Thanks 67Yaz
 

swiftaw

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The 3 Canada locations are Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium), Montreal (Olympic Stadium), and Toronto (BMO Field).
The 3 Mexico locations are Guadalajara (Estadio Akron), Mexico City (Azteca), and Monterey (BBVA Bancomer Stadium).

The 10 US locations will be chosen from these 17: Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium), Baltimore (M&T Bank Stadium), Boston Area (Gillette Stadium), Cincinnati (Paul Brown Stadium), Dallas (AT&T Stadium), Denver (Mile High Stadium), Houston (NRG Stadium), Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadium), Los Angeles (Rose Bowl), Miami (Hard Rock Stadium), Nashville (Nissan Stadium), New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium), Orlando (Camping World Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium), Seattle (CenturyLink Field), and Washington, DC (FedEx Field)

It will be interesting to see which 7 get cut, but I would say only one of Baltimore/DC, and only one of Orlando/Miami makes it.
 

blueline

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There's a possibility that FedEx won't be the DC location for consideration. Dan Snyder has made initial overtures about a new stadium, and really wants to demolish old RFK Stadium and build on that site. If that were to happen, you'd have to imagine that stadium would become a centerpiece of the tournament. It's probably all unlikely to work out though.
 

nolasoxfan

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The 3 Canada locations are Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium), Montreal (Olympic Stadium), and Toronto (BMO Field).
The 3 Mexico locations are Guadalajara (Estadio Akron), Mexico City (Azteca), and Monterey (BBVA Bancomer Stadium).

The 10 US locations will be chosen from these 17: Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium), Baltimore (M&T Bank Stadium), Boston Area (Gillette Stadium), Cincinnati (Paul Brown Stadium), Dallas (AT&T Stadium), Denver (Mile High Stadium), Houston (NRG Stadium), Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadium), Los Angeles (Rose Bowl), Miami (Hard Rock Stadium), Nashville (Nissan Stadium), New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium), Orlando (Camping World Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium), Seattle (CenturyLink Field), and Washington, DC (FedEx Field)

It will be interesting to see which 7 get cut, but I would say only one of Baltimore/DC, and only one of Orlando/Miami makes it.
I would say the same for one of Philadelphia /NY-NJ. Hard to imagine both getting selected.
 
Pulisic will be 27. Depending on circumstances he could be the biggest star athlete in the country before / during / after 2026.
On the subject of players for 2026, I wonder how many other potential dual nationals over the next eight years might get pulled into the USMNT's orbit now that a World Cup Finals berth is guaranteed. Definitely can't hurt.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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In connection with the US bid last time, there was a talk that they were putting cities in that really don't have a chance because the stadiums cannot accommodate a properly sized pitch. I think I remember reading that all NFL stadiums built after a certain point (so certainly including Atlanta and Dallas) were specifically made so they could accommodate the width required, but that older stadiums that have more pronounced curvature in the lower bowl cannot fit the pitch. Maybe they have figured out a way to make it work. Or maybe FIFA is not as demanding. I think for some of the stadiums it was a matter of just a few feet to make the difference.
 

Spacemans Bong

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I think pretty much every NFL stadium built after Joe Robbie specifically built his stadium in Miami to be able to host soccer in the late 80s has the required specs for soccer.

The Rose and Citrus Bowls are holdovers from 1994, so we know they work. Arrowhead is the only other pre-1988 stadium and it successfully hosted MLS for years. So it’ll be fine.
 

SumnerH

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Pulisic will be 27. Depending on circumstances he could be the biggest star athlete in the country before / during / after 2026.
You think that by 2026 the biggest star athlete in the US will be a soccer player? Can you show your work? Seems unlikely that he's top 50.
 

Titans Bastard

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On the subject of players for 2026, I wonder how many other potential dual nationals over the next eight years might get pulled into the USMNT's orbit now that a World Cup Finals berth is guaranteed. Definitely can't hurt.
The biggest dual national battle at the moment is over a player who might wind up with...Mexico. :(
 

rickmac

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You think that by 2026 the biggest star athlete in the US will be a soccer player? Can you show your work? Seems unlikely that he's top 50.
School pickup jerseys commonly seen: Brady, Gronk, Iring, Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo, Pulisic. He might already be top 50 with the younger kids at least in my area and probably much higher.
 

Zomp

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You think that by 2026 the biggest star athlete in the US will be a soccer player? Can you show your work? Seems unlikely that he's top 50.
I don't know about THE biggest, but if Pulisic moves to a bigger club in the Premier League its conceivable that he could be in the top 10.
 

Ale Xander

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You think that by 2026 the biggest star athlete in the US will be a soccer player? Can you show your work? Seems unlikely that he's top 50.
Messi is top 5 now, and he's not even American. It all depends on ~75% how good he becomes and ~25% the concussion discussion with football vis-a-vis soccer.

If soccer continues on its current trajectory of being the first or second sport played for 1st graders, and Pulisic develops as a player, he'll be top 10 for sure.
 

Monbo Jumbo

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You think that by 2026 the biggest star athlete in the US will be a soccer player? Can you show your work? Seems unlikely that he's top 50.
Fun tangential factoid.

Per-game, home attendance, Atlanta's MLS team is outdrawing the NY Yankees this year.
 

dirtynine

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You think that by 2026 the biggest star athlete in the US will be a soccer player? Can you show your work? Seems unlikely that he's top 50.
Yeah, pro soccer’s rise in popularity among under-30 sports fans (note: not the “more American kids play soccer than any other sport” factoid that’s been trotted out since the 70s; I’m taking about audience demos for current pro sports), combined with the fact that every World Cup seems to get bigger and bigger mindshare / ratings here (US V Portugal was only beaten in the 2014 ratings by the SB, AFC & NFC CGs and the NCAA championship), combined with the hope and hype that comes from hosting the tourney - that’s a tsunami. And that’s just the baseline.

Add to that Pulisic, who’s already a big deal among American fans and who could conceivably be a top 15-20 player in the world then, at his exact prime, probably playing in a top 3 league for a big club. He’s basically Captain America, all of our hopes and dreams to be good and respected at the world’s game, stuffed into one guy.

He’ll be on every magazine cover (if those exist), on every talk show etc. He got a huge bald eagle shoulder tattoo last year expecting (I think) to show it off at the 2018 WC when we thought we’d be there. He’s ready to be “that guy” in a way that, due to personalities, never fit our previous stars. And he’s a good looking kid, which never hurts. Also, he hasn’t really had a major marketing campaign behind him yet from a Nike or EA - look for that to change.

A lot of this is down to his continued development. But if he keeps going on his current trajectory - maybe with some theatrics at the 2022 WC - he’ll be more individually popular than anyone in MLB or NHL, maybe than all but 1-2 NFL players (if not all) and 2-3 NBA players. LeBron will be retired. Brady will be considering it (heh.) Curry, Durant etc will be old. There are no American sports names that I can project who are set up to be as big. Leading the USMNT out in front of home crowds at the WC? Stratospheric potential. He’s got to deliver on the field, but I’d take that wager.
 
The biggest dual national battle at the moment is over a player who might wind up with...Mexico. :(
Plenty of dual-nationals likely to come through the system in the next eight years, though - I was thinking more of the kids who are 14 and 15 now who might be good enough to make the squad in 2026 but won't have committed yet.

By the way, I wonder how the Confederations Cup might work in 2025, assuming that's still a thing. Maybe have 16 teams in four groups (two in the USA, one in Mexico and one in Canada) and just have the group winners advance to a semifinal round?
 

Spacemans Bong

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Maybe Pulisic isn't the biggest US sports star for the year 2026, but in the specific month of June 2026, when the tournament will be here? Yeah, I can easily see that. Baseball can't create a star to save its life, hockey isn't big enough. The NBA finals are gonna be over. Golf and tennis would need a generational US talent on par with Tiger or Federer. Short of Mike Trout acquiring a personality and moving to the East Coast, it feels like soccer's spot to lose.
 

Senator Donut

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By the way, I wonder how the Confederations Cup might work in 2025, assuming that's still a thing. Maybe have 16 teams in four groups (two in the USA, one in Mexico and one in Canada) and just have the group winners advance to a semifinal round?
North America will host the new intercontinental playoffs in 2025, so the Confederations Cup is almost certainly dead.
 

InstaFace

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Maradona wasn't a fan of this bid winning:

The decision will make Mexico the first country to host three times, but Maradona suggested the country's record in the World Cup was not good enough. El Tri has been eliminated in the round of 16 in six straight tournaments.

"I don't like it," Maradona told Telesur. "Mexico doesn't deserve it. The Mexicans come up against Brazil or Germany... and 'boom,' they're out."

The 57-year-old also took issue with Canada and the U.S., recalling a proposal ahead of the American-hosted 1994 World Cup from then-FIFA president Joao Havelange that would have split games into quarters to allow for more television commercials.

"There's no passion," Maradona said. "The Canadians may be good skiers, and the Americans wanted to have four periods of 25 [minutes] for the advertising."
Sick burn, bro, but maybe there were other considerations at play.
 

InstaFace

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In fairness, he said that two weeks ago, before Mexico's victory.

He's now said he's rooting for Mexico:
Argentina legend Diego Maradona on Monday said that he is supporting El Tri after a review of all of the Latin American teams participating in Russia.

"I am a supporter [of Mexico] already because they made this first round great. Mexico have shown that they could be able to beat Sweden, that they have the condition," Maradona told Venezuelan TV channel Telesur during his program "De la Mano del 10."

Maradona also said that by beating South Korea, Mexico showed that their initial win over Germany was no fluke. Against South Korea, Maradona said that Mexico went in aggressively and within the first or second touches they were already in position to score.
Dude's a bit of a mess.
 

Sausage in Section 17

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Glad to see Canada finally developed a solid plan to qualify for the WC again.
So all 3 countries that host get a team in ? Nice trick Canada and at this point, maybe the U.S., because soon or later Pulisic won't have any ankles.
I'm stealing this joke from BigSoccer, but since Canada is hosting, both of the NTs Canadian soccer fans root for will get an auto-bid: England and Italy.
Here's my question: if Canada gets an automatic berth in the finals as a host, will it also get a top seed in its group as is normally the case for being a host? Because the latter would feel very wrong, albeit not much more wrong than Qatar getting a top seed in 2022.

Quoted for posterity, and Canadian pride!

It seems things have changed in a short time. Perhaps the U.S. or Mexico would be more at risk not to qualify in 2026, if 3 automatic berths aren't in the offing, though I'm sure they will be.
 

Silverdude2167

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Quoted for posterity, and Canadian pride!

It seems things have changed in a short time. Perhaps the U.S. or Mexico would be more at risk not to qualify in 2026, if 3 automatic berths aren't in the offing, though I'm sure they will be.
Ha funny funny, but a slightly unfair shot at the US who should be peaking in 2026. Now Mexico...
 

InstaFace

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Quoted for posterity, and Canadian pride!

It seems things have changed in a short time. Perhaps the U.S. or Mexico would be more at risk not to qualify in 2026, if 3 automatic berths aren't in the offing, though I'm sure they will be.
Take your victory lap, Canadian soccer has never been better. If 3 host berths weren't under consideration before, surely Canada's qualifying campaign has erased all doubt that such a decision would be a farce.

What makes following the USMNT such a joy is the relentless ascendancy of it. Not uniformly, not without setbacks, but over the course of time - just in my adulthood alone, the last two decades - we've gone from having a plucky but outclassed team to truly belonging on the world stage. They keep surprising us in a positive way. Canada has seemingly compressed that same two decades' worth of growth plan more or less into just a few years, and a few brilliant players. I'm very much looking forward to rooting for them, because it was really hard to force myself to root against them.
 

dirtynine

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Canada is more top-heavy though. I think and hope they will develop into a perennial power but they could be a decade or two off from that, with some valleys yet to come. The US has (hopefully?) gotten to the point where the loss of any one player won’t drastically change its fortunes. Don’t believe you can say that about CA just yet.
 

Senator Donut

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Quoted for posterity, and Canadian pride!

It seems things have changed in a short time. Perhaps the U.S. or Mexico would be more at risk not to qualify in 2026, if 3 automatic berths aren't in the offing, though I'm sure they will be.
Full credit to the CanMNT. When this thread was started in April 2017, things were looking pretty dire. Canada hadn't scored a goal in a Gold Cup since 2011. (They automatically qualify every year.) Alphonso Davies showed tremendous potential for the Whitecaps, but hadn’t been cap tied. (Canada are the worldwide leaders in dual-national panic.) Tajon Buchanan was a Syracuse student and had never worn a Canada shirt at any youth level. Jonathan David was a U17 in the soccer hotbed of Ottawa. What an amazing turnaround.